Graham: Joe Biden’s role in Ukraine has ‘nothing to do with friendship’ – USA TODAY
A week of impeachment hearings is a lot of information. Five minutes will get you caught up on all things Trump impeachment inquiry. Hannah Gaber, USA TODAY
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is defending his decision to ask the State Department for documents related to the Bidens and Ukraine, after former Vice President Joe Biden said he was "embarrassed" bythe senator's movelast week.
Speaking on Fox News Radio on Monday, Graham pushed back against the 2020 Democrat, saying that the issue has "nothing to do with friendship" between the two politicians. Biden had said that he was "angered" because Graham "knows me, he knows my son."
"My friendship with Joe Biden, if he can't withstand me doing my job, it'snot the friendship I thought we had," Graham said.
Graham sent a letter to the State Department last week requesting records of Biden's interactions with Ukrainian officials. House Democrats are pursuing an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trumpfor an alleged pressure campaign to get the Ukrainian president to openinvestigations that would benefit him politically.
Meanwhile,President Donald Trump and his political allies have pushed the allegation, without evidence, that Biden called for the firing of a topUkrainianprosecutor to protect his son, who once sat on the board ofenergy company Burisma in Ukraine.
Biden pushed for the prosecutor's ouster for failing to pursue corruption cases, the consensus among international groups at the time, according to officials.
A Biden spokesperson said in a statement, "Republicans controlled both chambers of Congress for most of the last five years and said or did nothing to indicate they thought that this warranted attention."
Explainer: Biden, allies pushed out Ukrainian prosecutor because he didn't pursue corruption cases
Of the accusations against Trump, Graham said, "I don't see that. I don't see that being proven." Graham said that he would not give Democrats "a pass," while they continue to investigate Trump, and accused House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff of conducting an "un-American" impeachment process.
"I'm not going to create a country where only Republicans get investigated," Graham said. "... And we're going to ask questions of Hunter Biden's role, and getting the prosecutor fired."
In response to Biden's accusation that Trump has power over him, Graham said, "I'm doing this because somebody needs to do it."
"Lindsey is about to go down in a way that I think he's going to regret his whole life," Biden said."I say, Lindsey, I'm just embarrassed by what you're doing, for you."
"Don't feel bad about me. Don't worry about me. I am fine, Joe. You're a good man," Graham said Monday.
'I'm embarrassed by what you're doing': Joe Biden says Lindsey Graham will regret backing Trump amid Ukraine controversy
Graham said that he hopes his friendship with Biden will continue, but that somebody needs to look into the questions about Hunter Biden.
"I admire him as a person, I think he's always trying to do right by the country. I think he's made a lot of bad policy choices, but as a person, I like him," Graham said. "But we're not going to allow a system in America where only one side gets looked at. These are legitimate questions."
U.S. and Ukraine relations go further back than the now infamous phone call between Trump and Zelensky. We explain their relationship. Just the FAQs, USA TODAY
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Graham: Joe Biden's role in Ukraine has 'nothing to do with friendship' - USA TODAY
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