Christian evangelist, Franklin Graham, slams Republicans for taking '30 pieces of silver' from Nancy Pelosi in Trump impeachment 'betrayal'

• The controversial evangelist, Franklin Graham, has compared Republicans who voted for Trump's impeachment to Judas.
• In a Facebook post, Graham compared the 10 Republicans who voted for Trump's impeachment to Judas Iscariot, the notorious apostle who betrayed Jesus after being paid 30 pieces of silver.
• It came the day after the House of Representatives voted 232-197 to impeach Trump for his role in inciting the Capitol riot last week, making him the first President in history to be impeached twice.

The controversial evangelist, Franklin Graham, has compared Republicans who voted for Trump's impeachment to Judas.

In a Facebook post, Graham compared the 10 Republicans who voted for Trump's impeachment to Judas Iscariot, the notorious apostle who betrayed Jesus after being paid 30 pieces of silver.

He began: "Shame, shame on the ten Republicans who joined with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats in impeaching President Trump yesterday. After all that he has done for our country, you would turn your back and betray him so quickly?

"And these ten, from his own party, joined in the feeding frenzy. It makes you wonder what the thirty pieces of silver were that Speaker Pelosi promised for this betrayal," he continued later in the post.

It came the day after the House of Representatives voted 232-197 to impeach Trump for his role in inciting the Capitol riot last week, making him the first President in history to be impeached twice.

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Those who voted for his impeachment included Liz Cheney, the US Representative for Wyoming and third-ranking House Republican.

Graham, who is the leader of the North Carolina based charity, Samaritan's Purse and son of the late evangelist Billy Graham, has been a staunch supporter the outgoing President.

In the run-up to Trump's first impeachment in December 2019, he promoted T-shirts that said "Pray for 45" on them on Twitter using a photo of his daughter and added the caption: "The Bible instructs us to pray for our leaders & Donald Trump needs our prayers."

—Franklin Graham (@Franklin_Graham) November 1, 2019

In January 2020, Trump created the 'Evangelicals for Trump' group but his support from the community has declined, with a New York Times exit poll showing a drop from 81% in 2016 to 76% in 2020.