一位参与了所有三项现代总统弹劾案的加州国会女议员指责参议员林赛·格雷厄姆和参议院多数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔“试图操纵”即将到来的对唐纳德·特朗普总统的审判。
特朗普因涉嫌滥用权力向外国政府施压，迫使其干涉2020年的选举而面临弹劾。他否认有任何不当行为。
周六，南卡罗来纳州共和党人、参议院司法委员会主席格雷厄姆告诉美国有线电视新闻网，特朗普的参议院审判“将很快结束，我将尽我所能让它很快结束。”
格雷厄姆补充道:“我正试图给出一个非常明确的信号，我已经下定决心了。我不想在这里假装成一个公正的陪审员。”
肯塔基州共和党人麦康奈尔上周告诉福克斯新闻主持人肖恩·哈尼蒂，他正与特朗普的律师就如何处理审判进行协调。
“我们之间在如何做这件事上不会有任何区别……从众议院来看，这个案子太弱了，”麦康奈尔说。“我们都知道这将如何结束。总统不可能被免职。”
佐伊·洛格伦代表尼克松被弹劾期间，加州民主党人在众议院司法委员会工作。后来，她作为国会议员加入了司法委员会，在克林顿弹劾案中任职，现在是特朗普的。
洛格伦说格雷厄姆和麦康奈尔的言论令人担忧。
“我从参议员那里听到的一些事情看起来像是他们试图操纵审判。我认为这对国家来说是一个严重的问题。但我认为这对特朗普来说也是个问题，”洛格伦周一告诉MSNBC。
“特朗普总统希望被证明无罪。如果每个人都知道他操纵了审判，如果他们听不到任何证据，他也不会被无罪释放；[如果]参议员宣布他们已经下定决心，他们不需要看事实。
“如果总统没有在参议院被定罪，这并不清楚。这只是保护一个滥用权力的人的政治努力。”
新闻周刊请麦康奈尔和格雷厄姆通过电子邮件发表评论，如果有文章的话，这篇文章将会更新。
众议院全体议员将于本周投票表决对特朗普提出的两项弹劾条款得到众议院司法委员会的批准。这些文章是为了滥用权力和阻挠，可能会被民主党控制的众议院通过。
众议院情报委员会在一份报告中陈述了对特朗普的指控，该报告是在经过一段紧张的取证期后汇编的，包括来自政府内部关键证人的证词。
报告的结论是，特朗普将3.91亿美元军事援助的发放和乌克兰总统沃洛迪米尔·泽兰斯基的白宫访问以公开展开虚假腐败调查为条件，这些调查将在2020年选举前伤害他的国内政治对手。
特朗普总统表示，他对腐败的担忧是合情合理的，他不想从乌克兰得到任何东西来换取尚未公开的调查。
MITCH MCCONNELL, LINDSEY GRAHAM 'TRYING TO RIG' TRUMP'S TRIAL, SAYS CONGRESSWOMAN WHO WORKED ON NIXON, CLINTON IMPEACHMENTS
A California congresswoman who has worked on all three modern presidential impeachments accused Senator Lindsey Graham and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of "trying to rig" the looming trial of President Donald Trump.
Trump is facing impeachment for allegedly abusing his power to pressure a foreign government to interfere in the 2020 election to his advantage. He denies any wrongdoing.
On Saturday, Graham, a South Carolina Republican and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told CNN that Trump's Senate trial "will die quickly, and I will do everything I can to make it die quickly."
Graham added: "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."
McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, told Fox News host Sean Hannity last week that he is coordinating with Trump's lawyers on how to handle the trial.
"There won't be any difference between us on how to do this…The case is so darn weak coming over from the House," McConnell said. "We all know how that's gonna end. There's no chance the president's going to be removed from office."
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat, served on the House Judiciary Committee staff during the Nixon impeachment. Later, she joined the judiciary committee as a congresswoman, serving during the Clinton impeachment and now Trump's.
Lofgren said the remarks by Graham and McConnell were concerning.
"Some of the things I'm hearing from the senators looks like they're trying to rig the trial. I think that's a serious problem for the country. But I think that's a problem for Trump as well," Lofgren told MSNBC on Monday.
"President Trump is hoping to be exonerated. He will not be exonerated if everyone knows he rigged the trial if they're not going to hear any evidence; [if] the senators announce they've already made up their minds, that they don't need to look at the facts.
"That doesn't clear the president if he's not convicted in the Senate. That's just a political endeavor to protect a man who's guilty of abusing his power."
Newsweek asked McConnell and Graham for comment by email and this article will be updated if one is provided.
The full House will vote this week on the two proposed articles of impeachment against Trump that were approved by the House Judiciary Committee. The articles are for abuse of power and obstruction and likely to be passed by the Democrat-controlled House.
The House Intelligence Committee laid out its case against Trump in a report compiled after an intense period of evidence-gathering, including testimony from key witnesses from inside the administration.
It concluded that Trump had conditioned the release of $391 million military aid and a White House visit for Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on the public opening of spurious corruption investigations that would damage his domestic political rivals ahead of the 2020 election.
President Trump says he was legitimately pursuing concerns about corruption and wanted nothing from Ukraine in exchange for the investigations, which were not opened.
