Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) (Photo by Mark Reinstein/Corbis Via Getty Images)

(CNSNews.com) - The House is conducting an "illegitimate" impeachment proceeding, and "I think it's going to meet a quick end in the Senate," Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday.

Graham also said it's possible the Judiciary Committee will not hear from any witnesses, including the ones Republicans want to call, because Graham wants to "get this over as quickly as possible."

Host Maria Bartiromo asked Graham, "Who are some of the people you are going to want to hear from if, in fact, this does go to a trial?...Are you going to demand that people like the whistle-blower, Adam Schiff, Alexandra Chalupa, Fusion GPS, are these some of the people or organizations you're going to want to question?"

"There's two ways to do this," Graham replied.

In the trial, you can have the president present a defense to prove, in fact, that maybe the Ukraine was interfering in our election. The Russians stole the e-mails, not the Ukraine, but there's articles suggesting Ukrainian officials met with Democratic operatives in 2016. I don't know if that's true. But here's what I'm going to do with the trial. I'm going to try to get this over as quickly as possible, listen to what the House case -- let them present their case. And if there's nothing new and dramatic, I would be ready to vote, and we can do all this other stuff through congressional oversight.

"So are you saying you're not going to have people come down and testify?" Bartiromo asked Graham.

"I am saying that I'm going to end this as quickly as I can for the good of the country," Graham said.

When 51 of us say we have heard enough, the trial is going to end. The president's going to be acquitted. He may want to call Schiff. He may want to call Hunter Biden. He may want to call Joe Biden. But here's my advice to the president: If the Senate is ready to vote and ready to acquit you, you should celebrate that, and we can look at this other stuff outside of impeachment. Impeachment is tearing the country apart. I don't want to give it any more credibility than it deserves.

(In the Senate trial, calling witnesses would require 51 votes.) Graham said the House hearings were flawed from the start:

You don't want to create a situation where an anonymous person can start impeachment proceedings against the president of the United States. You can't get a parking ticket based on an anonymous allegation. The hearings were held behind closed doors. The Intel Committee gathered all the facts. The president's lawyer was never allowed to participate. They asked to call witnesses in the Judiciary Committee. They had one hearing in the committee with four law professors, and Nancy Pelosi said we're going to move forward with the articles of impeachment. This is a joke of a process. It's dangerous to the country. It's the first impeachment scenario in the country started in-house, not with outside counsel. Whitewater, prosecutor Ken Starr. You had Mueller looking at all things Russia and Trump. You had prosecutors in the Nixon case outside the system. This is being driven by Schiff and Nadler, Pelosi, partisan people. I think it's going to meet a quick end in the Senate.



