Sen. Lindsey Graham predicted the Supreme Court will send Donald Trump’s presidential immunity case back to the lower courts.
The South Carolina Republican said there is no “absolute immunity” spelled out in the Constitution, but he believes the impeachment will result in Trump getting “some immunity” for actions he took when he was president and for which he is now being prosecuted. .
Additionally, Graham dismissed former American Media CEO David Pecker’s testimony that Trump paid to remove bad stories about him before the 2016 election, saying celebrities often use this tactic.
‘David Pecker, who ran the parent company of The National Enquirer, testified that he paid to capture and kill stories about Trump specifically to help his presidential campaign. Don’t you have any worries about it?’ CNN’s Dana Bash told Graham in reference to testimony in the hush money trial in Manhattan last week.
Sen. Lindsey Graham believes the Supreme Court will return presidential immunity to lower courts and dismissed concerns that David Pecker paid for “catch and kill” stories about Trump before 2016.
“Apparently a lot of people do this, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tiger Woods,” the senator listed, mentioning the actor, bodybuilder and former governor of California, as well as the famous golf pro. respectively.
“I think this is all nonsense,” the Trump ally said of the trial. ‘The statute of limitations has long excluded cases of minor crimes. So this liberal Manhattan prosecutor came up with a federal campaign violation.
“I think it’s a political blow to Trump six months before the election. That’s what I think,’ he added.
The case in Manhattan criminal court involves Trump falsifying business records for payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet before the 2016 election about her alleged extramarital affair with Trump a decade earlier.
Trump has appeared in court the past two weeks in New York City during jury selection and the start of testimony in the case, which included cross-examination by Pecker.
Trump appeared in court the past two weeks for the criminal hush money trial in Manhattan and was unable to attend Supreme Court arguments on his presidential immunity case.
Former American Media CEO David Pecker was the first witness to testify in the hush money case last week. He admitted to paying for capture and death stories about Trump to help his presidential campaign.
During his testimony last week, Pecker said he paid former Playboy model Karen McDougal for her story about an affair with Trump and then canceled it because it would have hurt his chances of winning the election over Hillary Clinton.
Bash, host of CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday morning, asked Graham if he was worried about this, which he dismissed.
“Okay, obviously Tiger Woods isn’t running for president,” he responded.
‘Yeah. I don’t have it. Yes, I think this is all nonsense. Yes, I think it’s all nonsense, yes, political nonsense,” the senator said.