Lindsey Graham torches Schiff over impeachment tactics: He 'is doing a lot of damage to the country, and he needs to stop.'

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Sen. Lindsey Graham: The whole impeachment process in the House is not legitimate

Republican Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Lindsey Graham says the impeachment process in the House is partisan.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is preparing for a likely impeachment trial in the Senate, and he lambasted House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., for his actions in leading the inquiry into President Trump.

Republicans have been criticizing Schiff for subpoenaing and releasing phone records of calls between the office of former Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and Rudy Giuliani, Giuliani associate Lev Parnass, and journalist John Solomon.

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"I think it's dangerous," Graham said. "Here's what I would tell Adam Schiff. Do you really want to start calling other members, Republican members of Congress in oversight? Do you want me to call you to the Senate as part of Senate oversight?"

Graham said he would never do that, because "I'm not going to participate in things I think will destroy the country," Graham said. He pointed out that while members of Congress are not above the law, "we're not going to turn the Senate into a circus."

Graham continued to take Schiff to task for his role in the impeachment inquiry as a whole, pointing out that previous investigations were led by special counsels, not members of Congress with a partisan agenda.

"Adam Schiff is doing a lot of damage to the country," Graham said. "And he needs to stop."

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Schiff is one of several key figures President Trump has fiercely criticized throughout this process, but Graham said he would not recommend calling him or anyone else to testify at an impeachment trial. The senator claimed there would be no need to do so, barring a bombshell revelation between now and the beginning of a trial.

“When 51 of us say we’ve heard enough, the trial is going to end," Graham said. "The president’s going to be acquitted. He may want to call Schiff, he may want to call Hunter Biden, he may want to call Joe Biden. But here’s my advice to the president: If the Senate is ready to vote and ready to acquit you, you should celebrate that. And we can look at this other stuff outside of impeachment. Impeachment is tearing the country apart, I don’t want to give it any more credibility than it deserves.”