Sen. Lindsey Graham on Sunday said he would turn over any information that President Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani uncovers about Hunter Biden and Ukraine to the Justice Department for vetting — because he doesn’t intend to become “the Republican Christopher Steele.”
“Here’s what I want to tell the president: I’m not going to be the Republican Christopher Steele,” Graham (R-SC) told CBS’ “Face the Nation,” referring to the former British spy whose dossier of unsubstantiated claims played a role in former special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
“Rudy Giuliani last night said he’s got the goods on Hunter Biden,” Graham said, adding he called Attorney General Bill Barr and Sen. Richard Burr, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, earlier Sunday and they told him to “take very cautiously anything coming out of the Ukraine against anybody.”
“If Rudy Giuliani has any information coming out of the Ukraine, he needs to turn it over to the Department of Justice because it could be Russian propaganda,” said Graham, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
He was asked if Giuliani is being “played” by the Russians.
“I’m telling Rudy, you think you’ve got the goods? Don’t give it to me, because what do we know? We know the Russian disinformation campaign was used against President Trump. They hacked into the DNC system, not the Ukrainians, and they’re on the ground all over the world trying to affect democracy,” Graham said.
Giuliani, the former New York mayor, traveled to Ukraine during the House impeachment inquiry into Trump last fall in an effort to uncover information that would vindicate Trump from claims that he pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
The former vice president threatened to hold up a $1 billion in loan guarantees unless Ukraine ditched a former top prosecutor who had investigated a Ukrainian energy company that employed Hunter on its board.
Giuliani claimed in an interview with Fox News on Saturday that he’s ready to “name names” in his investigation.
“Rudy Giuliani is a well-known man. He’s a crime fighter. He’s loyal to the president. He’s a good lawyer,” Graham said Sunday. “But what I’m trying to say to the president and anybody else is, the Russians are still up to it. Deterrence is not working.”
Trump’s dealings in Ukraine led to the House voting to impeach the president on Dec. 19. The GOP-majority Senate in its subsequent impeachment trial found Trump not guilty on both counts last week.