Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) says he is open to viewing the contents of former National Security Adviser John Bolton’s book manuscript in a “classified setting.”
The manuscript contains reportedly damaging claims that President Donald Trump withheld military aid to pressure Ukraine into investigating political rival Joe Biden, according to The New York Times.
Republican senators were already grappling with questions about whether to call new witnesses forward in the impeachment trial, and the news of Bolton’s manuscript only complicated things.
Graham has repeatedly said he opposed witnesses but the new revelations from the book have the potential to change how things play out.
“I think what we have to do here is evaluate the manuscript,” Graham said, according to The Hill. “I want to know what’s in the manuscript.”
On Tuesday, Graham blasted off a tweet in support of obtaining the manuscript through a classified setting.
I totally support @SenatorLankford's
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) January 28, 2020
proposal that the Bolton manuscript be made available to the Senate, if possible, in a classified setting where each Senator has the opportunity to review the manuscript and make their own determination. https://t.co/e18nUfSMgI
Some Republicans, including the president, have argued that Bolton should not be allowed to testify because it would jeopardize national security.
“The problem with John is it’s a national security problem,” Trump said last week. “He knows some of my thoughts. He knows what I think about leaders. What happens if he reveals what I think about a certain leader and it’s not very positive?”
Democrats, who want Bolton to testify publicly, have dismissed any plans for senators to simply review the manuscript in a classified setting.
“What an absurd proposal. It’s a book! There’s no need for it to be read in the SCIF unless you want to hide something,” Schumer said at a press conference, referring to the Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility.
On Tuesday, Graham told a scrum of reporters that he was comfortable with the amount of evidence the Senate already had in the impeachment trial.
“I’ll let you know Friday,” Graham said when asked if how he’d vote for witnesses given the Bolton revelations. “But right now I feel comfortable with the idea I have enough.”
On Monday, Graham was asked directly if the details of Bolton’s book changed his calculations on not wanting witnesses. He responded, “I don’t know.” He also said if more witnesses were going to be called, it’s likely the Bidens would be involved.
“The White House said there was no direct evidence of communication,” Graham said. “Maybe this suggests that one person said there might be. What I’ve said all along is if you’re going to add to the record, we’re going to do it in a balanced way… If we add to the record, we’re going to call Hunter Biden, Joe Biden and all these other people.”
