Graham Tells Giuliani to Stand Down

When Rudy Giuliani returned from his latest trip to Ukraine, Senator Lindsey Graham sent him an invitation.

“Well, I don’t know what he found, but if he wants to come the Judiciary Committee — Rudy, if you want to come and tell us what you found, I’ll be glad to talk to you…

Graham also added that he did not know what Giuliani has found or “what he was up to when he was in the Ukraine,” but that he was willing to use the Judiciary Committee to look into Hunter Biden and Ukraine.

My response was to stock up on popcorn, because the prospect of Senator Kamala Harris questioning Giuliani in public was just too delicious. Obviously, the senator agreed.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Graham appeared to be waffling on the invite.

If you’re wondering what accusations Giuliani is throwing around on cable television, you can take a look at the interview he did with Laura Ingraham where he suggests that the impeachment of Donald Trump is actually a cover-up for Democratic corruption in Ukraine. That seems to have been a bridge too far for Graham.

Josh Marshall suggests that Graham is getting cold feet when it comes to having Giuliani testify. But the truth is that Giuliani can’t testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee after claiming attorney-client and executive privileges in defiance of a House subpoena.

My take is that Graham was basically telling Giuliani to stand down with the wild accusations. He and McConnell have their hands full engineering a quick exoneration of Trump in the Senate. The last thing they need right now is for the president’s attorney to be piling on with even more ridiculous conspiracy theories that undermine their efforts.

Perhaps stocking up on popcorn wasn’t such a bad idea after all.