The release of a transcript of President Trump’s phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky divided congressional leaders right down party lines — with Sen. Lindsey Graham saying it would be “insane” for it to lead to impeachment.
Graham, a longtime Trump ally, said the transcript of the 30-minute phone call on July 25 — released Wednesday — shows no criminality.
“From my point of view, to impeach any president over a phone call like this would be insane,” Graham told reporters shortly after the five-page transcript was made public. “From the quid pro quo aspect of the phone call, there’s nothing there.”
The South Carolina Republican also tweeted, “Wow. Impeachment over this? What a nothing (non-quid pro quo) burger. Democrats have lost their minds when it comes to President @realDonaldTrump.”
Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi doubled down on the Democrats’ decision Tuesday to launch an official impeachment inquiry into the president.
“The fact is that the president of the United States, in breach of his constitutional responsibilities, has asked a foreign government to help him in his political campaign at the expense of our national security, as well as undermining the integrity of our elections,” she told reporters Wednesday.
Moments later, from the Senate floor, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for the release of the “complete, unredacted whistleblower complaint without further delay.”
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler tweeted that Attorney General William Barr should recuse himself.
“The President dragged the Attorney General into this mess,” Nadler wrote. “At a minimum, AG Barr must recuse himself until we get to the bottom of this matter. #UkraineTranscript.”
In the call, Trump repeatedly asked Zelensky to get in touch with Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Barr in urging the Ukrainian leader to investigate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
Rep. Adam Schiff, the House Intelligence Committee chairman who sent Barr a letter Tuesday demanding the release of the whistleblower complaint by Oct. 1, tweeted that the transcript “reads like a classic mob shakedown.”
Rep. John Ratcliffe, who last month withdrew as Trump’s pick as the next director of national intelligence, voiced his support for the president.
“The transcript conclusively determines, despite Democratic promises to the contrary, that there was no quid pro quo. No mention of military aid. No violation of the law,” Ratcliffe said in a statement. “In their desire to undo the 2016 election and destroy President Trump, Democrats have today unequivocally and irreparably harmed our national security and compromised an important ally. Instead of forming an impeachment line, Democrats should consider forming an apology line.”
The record of the phone call is a “memorandum of a telephone conversation” — and not a verbatim transcript of the conversation, according to a disclaimer.
Later on Wednesday, Nadler, Schiff and Rep. Elijah Cummings, the chair of the House oversight committee, issued a joint statement about the summary of the call, calling it an “unambiguous, damning and shocking abuse of the Office of the Presidency for personal political gain.”
“This is a clear breach of trust placed in the President to faithfully execute the laws and to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution,” the three Committee chairs said.
“Let’s be clear: no quid pro quo is required to betray our country. Trump asked a foreign government to interfere in our elections — that is betrayal enough. The corruption exists whether or not Trump threatened — explicitly or implicitly — that a lack of cooperation could result in withholding military aid.”