Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) claimed on Sunday that Attorney General William Barr has now “created a process” for Trump personal attorney Rudy Giuliani to feed him any dirt he’s dug up on former Vice President Joe Biden during his Ukrainian smear campaign.
In the wake of President Donald Trump’s impeachment acquittal, the president has not only spiked the football but has also begun to exact retribution on those he feels are responsible for the investigation into the Ukraine scandal. Besides ousting impeachment witnesses from their government posts, Trump has publicly pressed Congress to probe Democrats and impeachment investigators.
Appearing on Sunday’s Face the Nation, Graham claimed that what the president was really interested in was getting to the bottom of the FISA warrant system. At the same time, however, he said that information coming out of Ukraine should be looked at even if it should be taken “very cautiously.”
ADVERTISEMENT
“Here's what I want to tell the president: I’m not going to be the Republican Christopher Steele,” he stated. “So Rudy Giuliani last night said he’s got the goods on Hunter Biden. I called the attorney general this morning, and Richard Burr, the chairman of the [Senate] Intel Committee, and they told me to take very cautiously anything coming out of the Ukraine against anybody.”
He went on to say that if Giuliani has any additional information out of Ukraine, he needs to turn it over to the Department of Justice.
Host Margaret Brennan, meanwhile, wanted to know if the DOJ has been ordered to investigate Biden and his son Hunter. The president had been accused during his impeachment of withholding military aid to Ukraine in order to pressure them to open investigations into the Bidens.
“No, the Department of Justice is receiving information coming out of Ukraine from Rudy,” Graham noted.
“Already?” Brennan, taken aback, responded.
“He told me that they had created a process that Rudy could give information and they would see if it’s verified,” the South Carolina senator said. “Rudy Giuliani is a well-known man. He’s a crime fighter. He’s loyal to the president. He’s a good lawyer.”
“What I’m trying to say to the president and anybody else, that the Russians are still up to it,” he continued. “Deterrence is not working, so let’s look at Hunter Biden’s conflict. Let’s look at Joe Biden.”
Brennan went on to say that a channel being opened between Giuliani and Barr sounds a lot like a “taxpayer-funded research operation against Joe Biden,” adding that this would appear to be what was at the heart of the impeachment probe in the first place.
“No, not at all,” Graham insisted. “There are plenty of people being contacted by folks from the Ukraine.”
Later in the interview, when asked directly who is paying Giuliani to do his dirt-digging operation in Ukraine, Graham replied “I don’t know” and quickly changed the subject.
Giuliani, meanwhile, appeared on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures to peddle more dirt on Biden, just days after The Daily Beast reported that the network’s own research team warned their colleagues not to trust Giuliani’s claims or “disinformation” on Ukraine.
Throughout his Sunday interview with Trump-boosting host Maria Bartiromo, the former New York City mayor said Trump should “100 percent” investigate the former veep while claiming he has “smoking gun” evidence that the Biden family was “monetizing Joe’s public office.”
