Sen. Graham: Impeachment 'dead on arrival' in Senate if Dems keep whistleblower from testifying

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Sen. Graham: I think we will learn the whistleblower is from the deep state

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham says we need to know what the background is of the whistleblower.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., accused House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., of not caring about the truth, and said Schiff's impeachment efforts will go nowhere unless he calls the anonymous whistleblower to come forward and testify about their complaint against President Trump.

House Republicans over the weekend submitted a list of witnesses they would like to call for public testimony during the impeachment inquiry, but Schiff -- who is running the probe -- was swift to reject the request to have the whistleblower come forward.

"I consider any impeachment in the House that doesn’t allow us to know who the whistleblower is to be invalid because without the whistleblower complaint we wouldn’t be talking about any of this," Graham told Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures," stating that the process would be unfair if the person who brought the complaint in the first place does not have to face questioning.

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If the House inquiry results in President Trump being impeached, the matter would then go to a trial before the Senate, which Graham says would be doomed if the whistleblower does not come forward.

“It’s impossible to bring this case forward, in my view, fairly without us knowing who the whistleblower is and having a chance to cross-examine them about any biases they may have," he said. "So if they don’t call the whistleblower in the House, this thing is dead on arrival in the Senate.”

Democrats claim that the whistleblower's testimony is irrelevant at this point because the witnesses who have already testified have provided more information on President Trump's July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the heart of the inquiry than the whistleblower would be able to give.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who runs the inquiry, said in a recent letter to the committee's ranking Republican Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., that the inquiry already "has gathered an ever-growing body of evidence -- from witnesses and documents, including the president's own words in his July 25 call record -- that not only confirms but far exceeds the initial information in the whistleblower's complaint."

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Graham, however, is accusing Schiff of being disingenuous in his fact-finding efforts.

"This is not about Schiff finding the truth, this is about Schiff trying to destroy the Trump presidency," Graham said.