南卡罗来纳州共和党参议员林赛·格雷厄姆再次驳回众议院司法委员会对唐纳德·特朗普总统两项弹劾条款的批准，称他想表明自己“不是在试图成为一名公正的陪审员”
格雷厄姆是参议院司法委员会主席和总统的坚定支持者，讲述周六在卡塔尔的美国有线电视新闻网国际频道，他无意在参议院听取弹劾审判的任何部分。
这位共和党参议员说，“我已经拿定主意了”，尽管事实上众议院尚未投票决定将针对特朗普的两项弹劾条款(滥用权力和阻挠国会)提交上院，这两项弹劾条款将于下周进行。
格雷厄姆周六在卡塔尔多哈论坛的一次采访中说:“这件事将会提交参议院，它会很快死去，我会尽我所能让它尽快死去。”。他补充说，弹劾程序应该“为了国家的利益”而结束。我认为对美国来说，最好的办法就是忘掉这件事。”
南卡罗来纳州共和党人指责说，在弹劾证据和审判开始之前就已经形成意见是不合适的。
“我正试图给出一个非常明确的信号，我已经下定决心了。格雷厄姆说:“我不想在这里假装成一名公正的陪审员。"我所看到的今天发生的一切只是党派的无稽之谈。"
格雷厄姆表达了许多共和党人的观点，他们认为特朗普2020年的连任机会将因弹劾程序而增加。包括佐治亚州的道格·柯林斯和俄亥俄州的吉姆·乔丹在内的几名共和党众议员上周一再表示，他们认为弹劾只是一种政治噱头，因为民主党人“害怕”明年11月击败特朗普的机会。
“就我个人而言，我认为特朗普总统会从这场危机中走出来，好消息是，美国政界的每个人都需要向美国公众证明，我们并不是完全疯了。因此，弹劾后可能会有一种妥协的精神，这是出于政治需要，如果还有其他原因的话，”格雷厄姆继续说道。
“如果你不喜欢特朗普总统，你可以在不到一年的时间里投票反对他。如果你不弹劾他们，政治家也不会不负责任，”他补充道。“所以我认为弹劾将很快在参议院结束。我希望它尽快结束。”
尽管格雷厄姆否认特朗普在乌克兰有任何不当行为，但他继续表示，他认为前副总统乔·拜登的儿子亨特·拜登有不正当行为，但没有证据表明他代表拜登有不当行为。
“现在，乔·拜登是我亲爱的朋友。我和乔·拜登一起环游了世界。他正在民主党一边竞选总统。我认为他会做得很好。最重要的是，他的儿子每月从乌克兰最腐败的人经营的一家天然气公司得到5万美元，大约两个月后，他们突袭了这家天然气公司总裁的家，解雇了检察官，”格雷厄姆继续说道。“是的，我认为谈论这种事情是可以的。”
LINDSEY GRAHAM SAYS HE'LL KILL IMPEACHMENT QUICKLY IN SENATE: 'NOT TRYING TO PRETEND TO BE A FAIR JUROR'
South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham once again dismissed the House Judiciary Committee's approval of two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, saying he wants to be clear he's "not trying to be a fair juror."
Graham, who is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a staunch supporter of the president, told CNN International in Qatar Saturday he has no intention of hearing any part of the impeachment trial in the Senate.
The GOP senator said "I have made up my mind" already, despite the fact the House of Representatives has not yet voted on the floor to send the two articles of impeachment against Trump to the upper chamber -- abuse of power and obstruction of Congress -- which will occur next week.
"This thing will come to the Senate, and it will die quickly, and I will do everything I can to make it die quickly," Graham said Saturday during an interview at the Doha Forum in Qatar. He added that the impeachment process should end "for the good of the country. I think the best thing for America to do is get this behind us."
The South Carolina Republican rebuked the suggestion it is inappropriate to already have formed an opinion about the impeachment evidence and trial before it has even started.
"I am trying to give a pretty clear signal I have made up my mind. I'm not trying to pretend to be a fair juror here," Graham said. "What I see coming, happening today is just a partisan nonsense."
Graham expressed the view of many Republicans who say Trump's 2020 reelection chances will increase as a result of the impeachment process. Several Republican House members, including Doug Collins of Georgia and Jim Jordan of Ohio, repeatedly stated this past week that they believe impeachment is just a political stunt because Democrats are "afraid" of their chances of defeating Trump next November.
"Personally I think President Trump will come out of this stronger and the good news is that everybody in politics in America needs to prove to the American public we're not all completely crazy. So there may be a spirit of compromise coming post-impeachment, born of political necessity, if anything else," Graham continued.
"If you don't like President Trump, you can vote against him in less than a year. It's not like a politician is unaccountable if you don't impeach them," he added. "So I think impeachment is going to end quickly in the Senate. I would prefer it to end as quickly as possible."
Despite Graham dismissing any wrongdoing on Trump's behalf in Ukraine, he continued to say he believes former Vice President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, was engaged in shady behavior, but there has been no evidence on wrongdoing on behalf of either Biden.
"Now, Joe Biden is a dear friend. I've traveled all over the world with Joe Biden. He's running for president on the Democratic side. I think he'll do very well. The bottom line is his son was receiving $50,000 a month from a gas company run by the most corrupt guy in the Ukraine and about two months after they raided the gas company's president's home, they fired the prosecutor," Graham continued. "Yeah, I think it's OK to talk about this kind of stuff."
