Is the ghost of John McCain haunting Senator Lindsey Graham? The South Carolina senator went on Maria Bartiromo's Fox News show, Sunday Morning Futures, to throw a wet blanket on conservatives' dreams of a Senate trial that would get to the bottom of the plot against President Trump. He wants to leave all those rocks in place, turning nothing over to see what crawls out. Instead, once the House managers present their case, he wants a quick vote, presumably ending in dismissal of the case.

In particular, Graham ruled out calling Adam Schiff to testify.

This is absolutely the wrong way to go. With only one side presenting evidence, and the Senate voting along party lines (with the possibility of Mitt Romney or Lisa Murkowski joining the Dems and Joe Manchin joining the GOP bloc), the Democrats will have succeeded in their goal of dirtying up Trump in the highest-visibility forum possible, a Senate trial, with no counterpunching.

Watch the five-and-a-half-minute segment here:

What could be going on?

Graham himself claims he wants to get rid of this spectacle as soon as possible because it is harming the nation. He tells Trump, "If the Senate is ready to vote, and ready to acquit you, you should celebrate."

Sorry, but I don't buy this logic. A Senate trial would be a blessing, offering the chance to put on the spot Hunter and Joe Biden, the whistleblower who is a leaker, his attorney Zaid who announced impeachment was underway right after the inauguration, and other plotters.

Sundance of the Conservative Treehouse sees Graham in cover-up mode:

These comments by Senator Lindsey Graham are very self serving. Why?… Because Senator Graham participated in the exploitation of Ukraine for his own benefit. In essence Graham is fearful that too much inquiry into what took place with Ukraine in 2014 through 2016 will expose his own participation and effort along with former Ambassador Marie Yovanovich. Graham is attempting to end the impeachment effort because the underlying discoveries have the potential to expose the network of congressional influence agents, John McCain and Graham himself included, during any witness testimony.

One theme emerging from the Democrats' Ukraine excursion is that that corrupt country has received billions in foreign aid from the U.S. with sketchy accountability at best. Many suspect that some of that aid finds its way to the hands of politicians or their election fundraising arms. Another theme is that Burisma has helped finance the Atlantic Council, in which Graham's late mentor, Senator John McCain, was active.

Something does not smell right.

Hat tip: Janet Levy.

Photo credit: YouTube screen grab.