By Chuck Ross
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham pledged Sunday to hold a hearing to determine whether top Justice Department and FBI official discussed a “bureaucratic coup” to remove President Donald Trump from office.
Graham said in an appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that he is willing to subpoena Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe to answer questions about an alleged discussion to use the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.
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McCabe claims that Rosenstein brought up the idea of using the Constitution to remove Trump during a meeting of FBI and Justice Department officials on May 16, 2017, around a week after Trump fired James Comey as FBI director.
The 25th Amendment allows a majority of cabinet members to remove a sitting president.
“We’re a democracy. People enforce the law — can’t take it into their own hands. And was this an attempted bureaucratic coup? I don’t know,” said Graham.
“So I promise your viewers the following: that we will have a hearing about who’s telling the truth, what actually happened,” the South Carolina Republican added, noting that McCabe was fired from the FBI for making false statements about leaks he authorized to the media.
McCabe is reportedly under grand jury investigation in the matter.
Rosenstein has denied McCabe’s claims, which McCabe lays out in a “60 Minutes” interview that airs Sunday night. The Justice Department has said through anonymous officials that Rosenstein was joking when he broached the idea of using the 25th Amendment to remove Trump. The Justice Department has also disputed another McCabe allegation: that Rosenstein offered to wear a wire during meetings with Trump. Rosenstein has said he was being sarcastic when he made that offer.
“I don’t know who’s telling the truth. I know Rosenstein vehemently denied it, but we’re going to get to the bottom of it,” said Graham.
Roseinstein, who is expected to leave the Justice Department soon, has rebuffed Congress’s requests for him to testify about the allegations regarding Trump.
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