Conservatives frustrated by “all talk, no action” Senate Judiciary Committee chair Lindsey Graham have just received some welcome news.
News broke Thursday that Senate Finance Committee Chair Chuck Grassley intends to return to the Judiciary Committee when his term with the Finance Committee expires at the end of 2020, right after the presidential election.
“Under Senate GOP rules, Grassley will hit his term limit for the Finance panel at the end of next year. He has informed Graham that he intends to use his seniority to become chairman of the Judiciary Committee starting in January 2021,” The Hill confirmed.
“He has, I think, two more years [before he hits his Judiciary Committee term limit],” Graham said to the outlet. “I’d honor any request that he wants to make.”
And so starting with the 117th Congress, the committee will no longer be led by a man whom many conservatives, including Graham’s own colleagues, argue has failed miserably at his job.
In a tweet posted late last month, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul got to the crux of the right’s beef with the South Carolina senator, writing that it’d be nice if Graham would “actually hold hearings and subpoena witnesses” instead of doing nothing.
I’m fully supportive of @LindseyGrahamSC symbolic resolution to condemn the secret impeachment proceedings in the House of Reps. How about the @senjudiciary actually hold hearings and subpoena witnesses to find out how this hoax got started? Long past due!
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) October 24, 2019
It’s this same frustration that inspired an untold number of conservatives to jump on social media late Thursday to demand that the “all talk, no action” senator step down from the committee now or have his seat handed to him in next year’s election.
Look:
LINDSEY GRAHAM SHOULD GIVE UP BEING A SENATOR!…….ALL TALK…. NO ACTION RINO…..https://t.co/sca3xMhVuF
— ????Armando???? (@Armando16250916) November 1, 2019
This pinhead could have done so much to alter the course of current events. I’m over him. His spinelessness has hurt this country in the same way that Sessions did through his ineptness. I’m over these feckless dimwits. Primary him out! https://t.co/BglgPzrPrT via @gatewaypundit
— He is Limitless ✝️ (@IminHisbook) November 1, 2019
Dear @LindseyGrahamSC
Go ahead and make your step down from judiciary chair official today.
America is done with you. You likely won’t have a job in 2020 anyway
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.#DoNothingRepublicans #byeLindsey https://t.co/mmHKi0dcf7
— A. “Judiciary leader” Killebrew ? (@ERMAGARN) November 1, 2019
RIDICULOUS!@LindseyGrahamSC says he’ll give up Judiciary Comm Chair In 2020!
Leave Now Lindsey!
He’s part of Cabal to bring down Pres Trump!
10-Mths: NOTHING!
He c/b having hearings to expose Schiff/Nadler
Instead- His silence helps Schiff/Pelosi!
Leave Lindsey!
With me?
— ??? RealBruceAlrighty ??? ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@BruceAlrighty45) November 1, 2019
Lindsey Graham will be giving up his Senate Judiciary Chair in 2020 because he’s knee deep in Deep State Ass.
Step down Lindsey – you’re worthless!!
— ?? TRUMP USA ?? (@MADE__USA) November 1, 2019
@LindseyGrahamSC – We want you to turn the Judiciary Committee over to Grassley NOW, not in Jan 2021!
— Zoda Stone (@StoneZoda) November 1, 2019
As noted by Paul, the current Judiciary chair has held zero hearings and subpoenaed zero witnesses, despite a prior promise to use all the resources at his disposal to conduct his own investigation into the origins of the Russia probe.
“Once the Mueller report is put to bed, and it will be soon, this committee is going to look long and hard at how all of this started,” he said during a Senate hearing last May about former special counsel Robert Mueller’s then-just-published report.
“We’re going to look at the FISA warrant process. Did Russia provide Christopher Steele the information about Trump, that turned out to be garbage, that was used to get a warrant on an American citizen and if so, how did the system fail? Was there a real effort between Papadopoulos and anybody in Russia to use the Clinton e-mails stolen by the Russians, or is that thought planted in his mind? I don’t know, but we’re going to look.”
Half a year later, Graham has done none of what he’d promised.
Listen starting from the 1:38 mark:
(Source: CNN)
But while some have accused Graham of being an undercover member of the “deep state,” it seems more likely that he’s simply not equipped for the job of a committee leader — that he’s more of a follower than a leader.
The evidence lies in how he followed then-Judiciary chair Grassley’s lead during Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings last year.
On more than one occasion, the senator won emphatic praise from conservatives for standing up for Kavanaugh.
“I would never do to them what you’ve done to this guy,” he fearlessly said to Democrats during one hearing in late September of 2018. “This is the most unethical sham since I’ve been in politics. And if you really wanted to know the truth, you sure as hell wouldn’t have done what you’ve done to this guy.”
“I cannot imagine what you and your family have gone through,” he then said to Kavanaugh but pivoting his attention back to Democrats again. “Boy, you all want power. God, I hope you never get it. I hope the American people can see through this sham. That you knew about it and you held it. You had no intention of protecting Dr. Ford. None.”
Listen:
Some conservatives have wondered what happened to this version of Graham. Perhaps the answer is that nothing has happened — and that while the senator has a talent for delivering powerful speeches, he simply sucks at being a leader.
DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW
Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!
- INSIDER: ‘It’s been terrible’ – Strip clubs accused of drugging customers, swindling $1M as part of intricate scheme - March 28, 2024
- Scarborough FUMES over ‘little idiots’ at Fox, spews seething contempt for female hosts who call him ‘liberal’ - March 28, 2024
- Vanderbilt Univ. protest upended when 911 call goes out for tampon emergency, and that’s not the worst of it - March 28, 2024
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.
BPR INSIDER COMMENTS
Scroll down for non-member comments or join our insider conversations by becoming a member. We'd love to have you!