Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina warned of retaliation against Democrats Donald Trumpongoing criminal cases.
In an interview with CNN Dana Bash On Sunday, Graham, a staunch Trump ally, said without evidence: “The Democrats keep calling President Trump a criminal. Well, be careful what you wish for. I expect there to be an investigation into Bidencrime at the border.”
In May, Trump was found guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying corporate records in a landmark criminal case involving a porn star Stormy Daniels and Trump’s attempts to influence the 2016 presidential election.
Speaking to Bash, Graham continued: “This country is going to have a reset and we are going [Joe] Biden’s habit of glorifying political persecution has opened a Pandora’s box. Whether he steps down or not, the responsibility will be his.”
Bash, who co-hosted the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump earlier this week, responded: “Sir, you just warned of retaliation.”
In response, Graham said, “Yes. I warned that the Pandora’s box that the Democrats opened is going to be applied here.” The senator went on to point to the Biden administration’s handling of the border crisis, saying, “I think the criminality of Biden’s border policies needs to be looked at.”
He also referred to the Democratic-led House committee investigating the January 6 insurrection, saying, “A January 6 committee that looks into what happened on January 6, I hope there’s also a committee that looks into the border policies that led to the rape and murder of many Americans.”
In Sunday’s interview, Graham also defended Trump’s performance during Thursday’s presidential debate, in which Trump repeatedly lied while Biden stumbled through his words.
“I thought he had a really good night… At the end of the day he was strong, clear and coherent,” Graham said.
Bash then asked Graham if he was comfortable with Trump’s response to her question about whether he would accept the 2024 election results regardless of whether he wins or not. During the debate, Trump said he would accept the results if they were “fair and legal.”
In response, Graham said, “Yeah, I mean, what do you say? ‘Do you all accept it, even though I thought I was being deceived?’ I’m not worried about him accepting the outcome of the election. I’m worried about the period between now and November. Is Iran going to get a nuke because they think Joe Biden is so compromised that he’s not going to do anything about it?”
During Thursday’s presidential debate, Bash and co-host Jake Tapper steered clear of fact-checking statements made by Trump and Biden, leading to criticism of CNN for failing to call out false claims — particularly those made by Trump.
Graham praised the network nonetheless, telling Bash, “You all did a great job. You let him talk. You’re not fact-checkers. You let him talk.”
