Lindsey Graham had to tone down his anti-impeachment resolution after being ‘blindsided’ by GOP criticism

This Wednesday, Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said that he was nixing a letter he planned to send to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) which declared that Republicans would not go along with impeaching President Trump over the Ukraine fiasco. He instead will offer a resolution declaring the impeachment process to be "unfair."

Graham's resolution was markedly toned down from his initial letter, which reportedly received a great deal of pushback from his GOP colleagues who felt signing it would put them in a tough spot. As a scoop from The Dispatch points out, Tom Cotton (R-AR) argued that signatories of the letter would ultimately be committed to defending Trump regardless of how his scandals unfold, and those who didn't sign on could potentially become targets of the President. According to The Dispatch, Graham's office was "blindsided" by Republicans' rejection of the letter.

After working with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to tone down the letter's language, more than 40 Republican senators have joined as co-sponsors, reinforcing the resolution's claims that the Democrat-led House is “abandoning more than a century’s worth of precedent” by “denying President Trump due process," The Dispatch reports.

Watch Graham's press conference announcing his resolution below, via C-SPAN: