Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is continuing to devote himself to the cause of defending former President Donald Trump, even after the ex-commander-in-chief is well out of office. Over the weekend, participants in the Senate trial against the ex-president grappled with reports that the then-chief executive expressed support for the actions of the rioters in the Capitol on January 6, and in response, Graham characterized the narrative as “liberal news reports” driven by “an agenda” — but a Republican Congresswoman publicly confirmed what happened!
According to Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.), who Democrats briefly floated summoning as a witness for the trial, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told her that, during a phone conversation with the then-president, Trump approvingly told the House GOP leader that the Capitol rioters were “more upset about the election than you are.” This account is not a “liberal news report” based on an anonymous source — it is a public, on-the-record revelation from a sitting Republican Congresswoman.
On Twitter on Saturday, Graham complained as follows:
‘Isn’t it a bit odd that these liberal news reports about impeachment, just like what happened during #BrettKavanaugh – which prove to be unreliable – always come out right before we are set to vote? I have found it wise to realize the source of these stories is the liberal media with an agenda. If you want a delay, it will be a long one with many, many witnesses.’
Isn’t it a bit odd that these liberal news reports about impeachment, just like what happened during #BrettKavanaugh – which prove to be unreliable – always come out right before we are set to vote?
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) February 13, 2021
If you want a delay, it will be a long one with many, many witnesses.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) February 13, 2021
The “source of these stories” that were circulating at the time was, again, not an anonymous source and not some kind of agenda. The night before Graham’s pompously self-confident rant, Herrera Beutler posted a statement reiterating her account of what happened on Twitter.
— Jaime Herrera Beutler (@HerreraBeutler) February 13, 2021
Originally, Herrera Beutler was one of ten House Republicans who supported impeaching Trump on a charge of incitement of insurrection after a mob of his supporters threatened the lives of members of Congress and many others who were on the scene on January 6. In the Senate, Graham has rebuffed the idea that Trump had anything directly to do with the violence — although the rioters carried Trump memorabilia and operated under the explicit pretense of his lies about election integrity — but other Senate Republicans who’ve at least made a show of impartiality have complained that it’s supposedly unconstitutional to hold an impeachment trial of a former president, although a handful of Senate Republicans disagreed.
Check out Twitter’s response below:
