Graham calls for special probe into DOJ corruption; says Clinton email probe ‘a joke’
Sen. Lindsey Graham on Sunday called for an investigation into corruption within the Department of Justice, while slamming former FBI Director James Comey and the Clinton email investigation.
“We should have a special counsel looking at DOJ corruption, looking at how the [Steele] dossier was given to the court,” Graham, R-S.C., told Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures.”
Graham, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Comey had a bias against President Trump when the former FBI director said he turned over an unclassified memo to a friend with the intent of getting it to The New York Times.
Comey, while testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee last summer, said he leaked accounts of the conversations he had with Trump, hoping it would lead to the appointment of a special counsel.
“He made a decision … to try to press the system to appoint a special counsel. If that doesn’t show a motivation and a bias against President Trump, I don’t know what would,” Graham said.
The South Carolina Republican also believes Comey was part of an “effort at the FBI” to give former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton “a pass,” regarding an investigation into her use of a private email server during her time at the State Department.
“The way they conducted the investigation was a joke, the thumb was on the scale,” Graham said. “The head investigator by the FBI hated Trump, liked Clinton. They were trying to come up with an insurance policy to make sure that Trump didn’t win the election.”
Graham also criticized the former FBI director for his dealings with former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, related to the Clinton email probe, something the two did not see eye-to-eye on. Comey, at his Senate testimony in June, told Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., that Lynch directed him to call the investigation a “matter,” which gave him a “queasy feeling.”
“These two people need to be brought to Congress, put under oath and resolve this conflict,” Graham said.
Graham added that Trump should receive the Nobel Peace Prize, lauding his efforts to denuclearize North Korea and bring its leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in together to promote peace within the region. In a historic move, Kim and Moon met last week, agreeing to work toward a “nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.”
“President Trump, if he can lead us to ending the Korean War after 70 years and getting North Korea to give up their nuclear program in a verifiable way, deserves the Nobel Peace Prize and then some,” the senator said.
Despite the two countries – and the U.S. – being on the verge of peace, Graham warned that the U.S. and North Korea are still “very close” to war, if Kim meets with Trump and doesn’t follow through on his promises to denuclearize the Hermit Kingdom.
“If I were the North Koreans, I would not meet with Donald Trump unless I was deadly serious about giving up my nukes, because if you play Trump, you’re gonna be a big loser,” he said.