Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has been suggesting in recent weeks that as soon as President Donald Trump’s Senate impeachment trial is complete, he plans to hold investigations into how the Ukraine scandal first came to light, even going to far as to suggest that he will subpoena the whistleblower who first notified Congress about Trump’s attempt to extort the Ukrainian government. On Sunday, Graham angrily declared:

“The Senate Intel Committee under Richard Burr has told us that they will call the whistleblower. I want to understand how all this crap started.”

But according to Rachel Bade of the Washington Post, Graham’s Republican colleagues are telling him it’s time to move on and let the matter drop.

During an appearance on CNN Monday morning, Bade noted:

“So Lindsey Graham was on TV yesterday talking about how Senate Republicans need to call in the whistleblower even though this is over. Part of me wonders, was he trying to speak to an audience of one? I know the president is unhappy about being impeached, but Lindsey Graham has been talking about this for a couple of months now. they haven’t really done anything about it.”

Could it be that Graham merely wants to try and ameliorate Trump, who is facing the prospect of giving his State of the Union address before a final vote is taken in the Senate where he’s on trial for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress?

Bade then added that Graham’s bluster has been met with a tepid response among his colleagues, who are eager to see the Ukraine matter disappear from public attention:

“So part of me wonders, is this just him firing up the rhetoric the way the president wants him to? Fight fire with fire? We’ll see if they actually make these moves to call in the whistleblower privately or bring in Obama officials. But from my understanding, there’s a lot of Republicans who just want to move on and they’re not interested in that. so we’ll see what Graham ends up doing.”

There’s also a danger that new hearings will expose other controversial (and even criminal) behavior by President Trump. And that could doom Trump’s already uncertain shot at winning a second term.

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