Sen. Lindsey Graham Lindsey Olin GrahamGOP senators say coronavirus deal dead until after election Tucker Carlson accuses Lindsey Graham of convincing Trump to talk to Woodward Trump courts Florida voters with moratorium on offshore drilling MORE (R-S.C.) on Wednesday jabbed former national security adviser Susan Rice for declining to testify before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee.

“At an appropriate time, I expect we will continue down this path," Graham, who chairs the subcommittee on crime and terrorism, said in a statement. "I hope Ms. Rice will come before the committee – and not just the press.”

President Trump accused Rice last month of improperly unmasking the identifies of members of his transition team who were caught up in surveillance by the intelligence community of foreign agents.

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Rice appeared on CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" over the weekend, where she fervently denied the allegations, arguing that she had not done anything improper with intelligence she received during her tenure as former President Barack Obama Barack Hussein ObamaBiden to hold call with Senate Democrats on Thursday: report Romney undecided on authorizing subpoenas for GOP Obama-era probes Billboards in four states and DC demand ICE 'free the families' MORE's national security adviser.

Earlier Wednesday, she declined an invitation from Graham to testify before the subcommittee. In a letter to Graham and the subcommittee's ranking member, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse Sheldon WhitehouseRestaurant owner defends calamari as 'bipartisan' after Democratic convention appearance Warren calls on McConnell to bring Senate back to address Postal Service Senate Democrats demand answers on migrant child trafficking during pandemic MORE (D-R.I.), Rice's lawyer, Kathryn Ruemmler, dismissed Graham's invitation as a "diversionary play" to distract from a broader congressional investigation into Russian election meddling and alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Moscow.

Ruemmler also argued that Whitehouse had not agreed to invite Rice to the hearing and that Graham acted on his own. That argument, however, was largely shot down by the Senate Judiciary Committee's top lawmakers.