Even as South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham presented his suck-up-to-Trump resolution criticizing the House impeachment process, he couldn't stand up for the innocence of the man he's so desperate to please.
“I’m not here to tell you that Donald Trump’s done nothing wrong. I’m not here to tell you anything other than that the way they’re going about it is really dangerous for the country and we need to change course while we can in the House," Graham told reporters Thursday at a press conference introducing his resolution. In other words: I'm not here to offer a defense of Trump, but I am here to complain on his behalf.
The only thing weaker than Graham's defense of Trump was his resolution itself, which didn't even “condemn” the House. After all, the U.S. Constitution does give the House the "sole power" of impeachment, stipulating nothing about process itself. The strongest wording in Graham's resolution underwhelmingly declared that the Senate "calls on" the House to do three things: take a formal vote on the inquiry, provide Trump with due process, and provide members of the minority with the ability to "participate fully" in the proceedings. What a joke. House Democrats aren't required to do any of that and, furthermore, Republicans on the committees of jurisdiction have been allowed to "fully" participate all along, even though some have opted not to stick around for testimony since they haven't been able to make a big show of it in front of TV cameras.
Anyway, Graham’s resolution was some pretty weak tea but, as weak as it was, an interesting list of nine GOP senators still couldn't bring themselves to sign onto it: Sens. Mitt Romney of Utah, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Cory Gardner of Colorado, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Mike Enzi of Wyoming, Johnny Isakson of Georgia, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, and Rob Portman of Ohio. That represents a mix of Republicans who are up for re-election in 2020, or somewhat independent-minded, or the elder statesmen of the party who are cruising toward retirement. They are arguably all GOP senators who might potentially break with Trump on a conviction vote in the Senate, depending on how bad things get—and, yes, they could have joiners.
It's already so bad that even Trump loyalists like Texas Sen. John Cornyn (also up for re-election in 2020 and clinging to Trump like Graham) have resorted to process arguments when asked about the substance of testimony from witnesses like career diplomat Bill Taylor.
"It’s hard to separate the substance from the unfairness of the process," Cornyn said, ducking a question from CNN's Manu Raju about Taylor’s testimony.
In the end, not a single one of the 44 GOP senators who indulged Graham by originally signing on to his resolution could move themselves to join him in a show of solidarity at his press conference. Not a single one.
Watch Cornyn below.