Lindsey Graham Warns Democrats Against Calling Witnesses To Trump Trial

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) cautioned Democrats against calling witnesses to testify in the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump for incitement of his supporters’ deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Graham told Fox News’ Trey Gowdy on Monday that “Pandora’s box” and “a can of worms” would be opened if just one witness was brought forward in the Senate trial of the former president that’s set to begin next week.

The House last month impeached Trump (for a second time) over the violence that left five people dead.

Graham, a one-time fierce critic of Trump who after the 2016 election became one of his most loyal defenders, warned that calling witnesses could mean a monthslong trial “and that would be bad for the country.”

Multiple Republicans have claimed it is time to “move on” from the insurrection for the good of the U.S.

“To my Democratic colleagues, if you vote to call one witness, none were called in the House, get ready for a long trial,” said Graham.

“If you open up that can of worms, we’ll want the FBI to come in and tell us about how people actually pre-planned these attacks and what happened with the security footprint at the Capitol,” the South Carolina Republican continued, parroting a right-wing talking point that the attack was planned by pro-Trump supporters well before the former president urged his supporters at a pre-riot rally to march to the capitol to overturn the election result.

Graham did not mention, however, how Trump for weeks following his election loss whipped his supporters up into a frenzy with baseless conspiracy theories about voter fraud.

“You open up Pandora’s box if you call one witness,” Graham concluded. “I hope we don’t call any and we vote and get this trial over next week when it starts.”