CNN’s John King: Lindsey Graham is Dangerously ‘Mainstreaming the Lying of Members of Congress’

CNN Chief National Correspondent John King took apart Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) impeachment hearing argument, Thursday, by looking back at the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton.

After Wolf Blitzer noted that Graham was “one of the leaders in the Republican effort to impeach then-President Bill Clinton,” King declared, “He was the House manager back in the day, and he’s talking about hearsay. Number one, this is not a court of law. Congress is not a court of law. Number two, he’s talking about hearsay. I would remind Lindsey Graham, Linda Tripp heard it from a friend.”

“When they built the case against Bill Clinton, it’s the same way. Like almost any case built, yes, you originally get hearsay witnesses and then you have to prove it. That is the Democrats’ challenge,” he continued. “But look, what’s dangerous — Lindsey Graham used the word dangerous in the end there — is the mainstreaming of lying by members of Congress. He knows, he just knows, that most of what he said there is not true. It’s misleading, it’s hypocritical, and it’s reckless.”

“If you want to make the case it’s not an impeachable offense, make the case it’s not an impeachable offense, but to make the case that it’s all hearsay, number one, we’re going to have witnesses about that. If the Democrats only have hearsay, they will have to go forward with an impeachment that’s based only on hearsay,” argued King. “But they have Ambassador Sondland coming back next week. They believe Ambassador Sondland mislead them, because they asked him in his private deposition about his contacts with the president, and he did not disclose the phone call that Bill Taylor disclosed yesterday to Congress.”

King concluded, “We’re not anywhere near the finish line here and the Republicans are trying to stop the process. That’s what Lindsey Graham is doing.”

Watch via CNN above.