>> Shortly after Lou Dobbs went after Lindsey Graham for supposedly not defending Donald
Trump hard enough during this impeachment investigation, Mitch McConnell, I'm sorry,
Lindsey Graham decided that he is going to propose a resolution.
That would let Democrats know that the Senate will not take up a vote on convicting Donald
Trump, should he get impeached by the House.
In fact, they won't even have a trial.
So let's go to the first video on this.
Here's Graham explaining that resolution during an interview with Sean Hannity,
>> This resolution puts the Senate on record condemning the House.
For the future of the presidency, we cannot allow future presidents and this President
to be impeached, based on an inquiry in the House that's never been voted upon.
That does not allow the President to confront the witnesses against him, call witnesses
on his behalf, and cross-examine people who are accusing him of misdeeds.
All I'm asking is give Donald Trump the same rights as Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton had,
when it comes to impeachment.
And I'm insisting that Donald Trump be given the same rights every American has if you're
given a parking ticket, to confront the witnesses against you.
Can't be based on hearsay, and here's the point of the resolution.
Any impeachment vote based on this process, to me, is illegitimate, is unconstitutional,
and should be dismissed in the Senate without a trial.
>> So with all the evidence that we already know about, including the summary of that
transcript which was released by Donald Trump's administration.
With the testimony given just yesterday by Bill Taylor, US Ambassador under the Trump
administration, indicating that there was a clear quid pro quo involved.
No, we wanna drop this impeachment situation, all the articles of impeachment.
We don't even wanna bring this up for a trial in the Senate.
Keep in mind that Mitch McConnell was asked whether or not he would hold a vote to remove
the President, or to convict the President, and he said that he would have to.
So I'm curious to see how he's gonna respond ultimately to this resolution.
Now, Mitch McConnell sidestepped when asked about how long a potential Senate trial with
last.
Telling reporters during a weekly press conference that quote, there are all kinds of potentials
we don't know about yet.
So- >> There's that.
>> Yeah, you talk about sidestepping process.
My God, I mean talk about ignoring process.
I mean, it seems inconceivable that you wouldn't at least have a trial in the Senate.
I mean, even those who sort of were against this entire thing getting underway, I'm talking
about the Nancy Pelosi's of the world.
Of course they were waiting to see which way the political winds are blowing.
But beyond that there was the argument, well, the Senate is not gonna vote to convict.
But there was always the presumption that there would at least be a trial.
I mean, this is another level.
As you say, I don't know if it's Lindsey Graham trying to curry favor with Trump and with
the right-wing media.
Probably is, you know?
>> Well, in his interview, and I bring this up a lot because it was so transparent.
He was so candid about his intentions.
In an interview with The Daily, the podcast for the New York Times, Lindsey Graham specifically
said, I wanna remain relevant.
It's all about self-interest.
Please take a listen to that episode of The Daily.
It was incredible how candid he was.
>> Yeah, this is blueprint politician doing anything to continue to survive and to be
an incumbent.
I mean, the other thing is let's think about how they got material against Bill Clinton.
Let's remember Linda Tripp secretly recorded Monica Lewinsky in their phone conversations.
So if you wanna talk about really violating process, let's think about all the impeachments
you mentioned too and their process.
>> They know that they're backed into a corner, and they're struggling.
And they know they can't defend Trump based on substance, so they're gonna focus on the
process.
And if you look at polling, and look, I don't put too much weight behind polling.
But I do think it's something to look at and consider as this impeachment investigation
moves forward.
Quinnipiac did the latest poll when it comes to impeachment, and the pollsters discovered
that 55% of respondents approved of the inquiry, while 43% opposed it.
Last week, that number was 51% who supported it, while 45% did not.
So the numbers keep increasing, and I think Republicans are very aware of that.
Which is why they're worried about, on one hand we have our voters who remain loyal to
Trump, and we wanna get reelected.
On the other hand, you have a President who's committing crimes.
And we don't wanna be on the record defending him.
>> That's states it starkly and accurately.
That's what they're up against.
So it sort of like they gotta go home and figure out if their constituency is okay with
it.
And that's, I think, where ultimately the decision will be made.