Sen. Lindsey Graham told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that he wants to hear from former Attorney General Loretta Lynch following ousted FBI Director James B. Comey’s testimony last week that she requested he call the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s email a “matter.”
“I want to hear from Loretta Lynch,” said Mr. Graham, South Carolina Republican and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “I want Comey to come to our committee.”
Mr. Comey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee last week that President Trump directed him to end the investigation into his former national security advisor Michael Flynn and requested Mr. Comey’s loyalty — something the president has denied.
He also said he believed Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s continued oversight of the Russia investigation would be “problematic” and that former Attorney General Loretta Lynch directed him to call the probe into Hillary Clinton’s emails a “matter” rather than an investigation.
“At one point, the attorney general had directed me not to call it an ’investigation’ but instead to call it a ’matter,’ which confused me and concerned me,” Mr. Comey said.
“This should be in the Judiciary Committee,” Mr. Graham said. “If the attorney general’s office has become a political office, that’s bad for the American people.”
Mr. Graham also said he doesn’t believe the president should testify publicly to counter Mr. Comey’s testimony.
“Can you be a street fighter on all things all the time and still be a president?” Mr. Graham said.
He added that Mr. Comey’s hearing was “pretty good” for Mr. Trump because it didn’t reveal any evidence of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign and there hasn’t been any evidence of obstruction of justice.
He said the Senate is passing a bill next week “to punish the Russians for interfering with our election.” Mr. Graham predicted Mr. Trump will sign the bill.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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