Lindsey Graham Says Impeachment 'Dead on Arrival' if Whistleblower Doesn't Testify

If the Democrats’ impeachment drive against President Donald Trump is going nowhere fast, they only have themselves to blame.

Two days before public hearings on impeachment are expected to begin in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, the effort could already be “dead on arrival” in the Senate.

That was takeaway from an appearance Sunday on Fox News by Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham, who said testimony from the “whistleblower” at the heart of the impeachment effort was a basic condition of considering the case.

And since Democrats have apparently already ruled out the “whistleblower’s” appearance for public questioning, the whole thing might have hit a wall before it even got started.

In fact, Graham said, it’s “impossible” for it to get anywhere in the Senate.

In an interview on “Sunday Morning Futures” with Fox host Maria Bartiromo, Graham said public testimony from the “whistleblower,” as well as former Vice President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, would be necessary for any serious consideration of the case.

“It’s impossible to bring this case forward, in my view, fairly, without us knowing who the whistleblower is and having a chance to cross-examine him about any biases that they may have,” Graham told Bartiromo.

“So if they don’t call the whistleblower in the House, this thing is dead on arrival in the Senate.”

Check it out here:

Democrats, of course, have no interest in having the “whistleblower” questioned in public.

The American people might have serious doubts about a witness against Trump who might have ties to the president’s opponents — like the outspoken former CIA Director John Brennan — or political rivals — like, say, Joe Biden.

They might even start to think the whole impeachment drama — for all its weighted implications about a constitutional crisis or a president committing “high crimes and misdemeanors” — is really just another Democratic farce aimed at overturning the results of a presidential election that stunned the world.

On Saturday, according to CNN, California Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, who is quarterbacking the impeachment drive as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, informed his Republican counterpart Rep. Devin Nunes that the so-called “whistleblower’s” testimony would not be needed.

Considering all the other anti-Trump witnesses Democrats have mustered, Schiff wrote, any words from the “whistleblower” would be both “redundant and unnecessary.”

If that’s the case, the whole impeachment farce is “redundant and unnecessary.”

Because no matter how many disgruntled National Security Council members or discontented career diplomats Democrats trot out to badmouth the president, the case is still going to be decided by a Senate that’s not only controlled by Republicans, but also respects the basic idea of fairness.

“The only way you can fairly deal with this issue is for us to find out who the whistleblower is,” Graham told Bartiromo.

“No American can be accused of a crime based on an anonymous allegation. The whistleblower is foundational to what they’re doing in the House. And the fact that they don’t want to call him … tells you everything you need to know about how valid this effort is to impeach the president.”

At this point, everything you need to know about the Democratic impeachment drive is that it’s going nowhere.

And they have only themselves to blame.