Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) didn't always have a problem with impeachment. Especially if it involved a president who "failed to comply with subpoenas of Congress."
Back in 1998, Graham, then a congressmember, threw his usual vigor into a House floor speech about how former President Richard Nixon refused to hand over his secret White House recordings. And, as neoconservative commentator Bill Kristol was probably pointing out by tweeting a clip of it on Wednesday, the speech has some pretty distinct parallels to today.
Graham, now a staunch ally of President Trump, started his speech by citing an article of impeachment against Nixon that said the president "failed to comply with subpoenas of Congress." It was Nixon's "job to comply" with the things Congress "need[ed]," Graham said, but Nixon instead "took ... the impeachment process away from Congress" and "became the judge and jury."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"The day Richard Nixon failed to answer that subpoena is the day that he was subject to impeachment," Graham finished. Strangely enough, Trump himself failed to answer a subpoena from Congress on Wednesday as well, citing his executive privilege just like Nixon did. Watch Graham's concise breakdown below. Kathryn Krawczyk
-
How China is battling the chikungunya virusUnder The Radar Thousands of cases of the debilitating disease have been found in the country
-
Deep thoughts: AI shows its math chopsFeature Google's Gemini is the first AI system to win gold at the International Mathematical Olympiad
-
Book reviews: 'Face With Tears of Joy: A Natural History of Emoji' and 'Blood Harmony: The Everly Brothers Story'Feature The surprising history of emojis and the brother duo who changed pop music
-
Trump picks conservative BLS critic to lead BLSspeed read He has nominated the Heritage Foundation's E.J. Antoni to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics
-
Trump takes over DC police, deploys National GuardSpeed Read The president blames the takeover on rising crime, though official figures contradict this concern
-
Trump sends FBI to patrol DC, despite falling crimeSpeed Read Washington, D.C., 'has become one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the world,' Trump said
-
Trump officials reinstating 2 Confederate monumentsSpeed Read The administration has plans to 'restore Confederate names and symbols' discarded in the wake of George Floyd's 2020 murder
-
Trump nominates Powell critic for vacant Fed seatspeed read Stephen Miran, the chair of Trump's Council of Economic Advisers and a fellow critic of Fed chair Jerome Powell, has been nominated to fill a seat on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors
-
ICE scraps age limits amid hiring pushSpeed Read Anyone 18 or older can now apply to be an ICE agent
-
Trump's global tariffs take effect, with new additionsSpeed Read Tariffs on more than 90 US trading partners went into effect, escalating the global trade war
-
House committee subpoenas Epstein filesSpeed Read The House Oversight Committee has issued a subpoena to the Justice Department for its Jeffrey Epstein files with an Aug. 19 deadline
