Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is pushing back on the repeated claims of House impeachment managers that President Trump had no reason to believe that Joe and Hunter Biden's dealings in Ukraine warranted investigation.
Speaking to reporters ahead of the third day of the Senate impeachment trial, he noted the managers "must have said 50 times" that "the Biden conflict of interest allegations have been debunked and there is no scintilla of evidence in terms of conflict of interest and wrongdoing."
However, directing his remarks to the reporters, he said "nobody, particularly in your business, has done much looking at when happened with Hunter Biden."
"You're going to hear much more about that, and I'll tell you tomorrow," he said.
Graham gave a preview, nevertheless, ticking off a series of events that culminated in Joe Biden -- as Biden himself boasted at a public event -- pressuring then-Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko to fire the prosecutor investigating his son's corrupt Ukrainian firm by threatening to withhold $1 billion in U.S. aid.
Meanwhile, Rudy Giuliani, President Trump's personal attorney, said Thursday he will begin releasing documents related to alleged corruption by the Bidens in Ukraine and around the world.
"Everything I tried to tell the press last March is now coming out, and more," the former New York City mayor wrote on Twitter. "I will now start to reveal the evidence directly to you, the People. The Biden Family Enterprise made millions by selling public office. Then when Joe was Obama’s Point Man, they ALL made millions."
Everything I tried to tell the press last March is now coming out, and more. I will now start to reveal the evidence directly to you, the People. The Biden Family Enterprise made millions by selling public office. Then when Joe was Obama’s Point Man, they ALL made millions.
— Rudy Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) January 23, 2020
Biden's campaign dispatched last week an extraordinary memo imploring news media to dismiss as "conspiracy theory" the allegations of corruption surrounding his son Hunter's business dealings.
Earlier this week, investigative reporter John Solomon showed the claims in the Biden campaign memo don't match the facts.
'Nobody has looked'
Graham noted to reporters Thursday he supported Robert Mueller's special counsel investigation of the Trump campaign, and "two years later, I'm good to go."
But "nobody has looked at what's happened in the Ukraine," he said.
In November, Graham sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo requesting documents of Joe Biden's phone calls with former Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko in February and March 2016. Among Graham's concerns was whether there was any mention of Ukraine's investigation of the business activities of Burisma owner Mykola Zlochevsky.
Graham pointed out that in 2014, Joe Biden was "given the Ukraine portfolio by Obama."
"It's a notoriously corrupt place," he said of the country.
"Within a month of being given the Ukraine portfolio, the vice president's son is hired by Burisma, one of the most corrupt companies in the Ukraine, at a fairly exorbitant salary," Graham said.
He noted Burisma also hired John Kerry's stepson, Devon Archer.
"The prosecutor, who I think was corrupt, opened up a case in May 2014 against Burisma, raided the Burisma president's home in February 2016 and six or seven weeks later was fired."
In 2015, the president of Burisma, Zlochevsky, was "named by our ambassador as somebody we should look at for corruption."
"The person who followed the fired prosecutor dropped the case against Burisma," Graham noted.
"I don't know. It doesn't pass the smell test to me," he said.
"Why were you paying Hunter Biden?" he asked. "You could say they're corrupt. But they're not stupid. Does it make sense to hire the son of the guy in charge of the portfolio for the American government?"
'If the name was Trump'
Graham pointed out that after the Burisma president's home was raided, Joe Biden "called the president of Ukraine four times, got on a plane and said if you don't fire this guy you don't get the billion dollars."
"I love Joe Biden, but I can tell you, if the name was Trump, there'd be a lot of questions asked," Graham said.
Graham emphasized that his objective is for the public to understand that Democrats are claiming "there's no there there" in the allegations the Bidens, but "nobody's looked" into them.
"Somebody should," he said.
"I've looked, and I've got a lot of questions," the senator continued. "Were they buying insurance by hiring Hunter Biden? Because it sure as hell wasn't buying expertise."