Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said on this week’s broadcast of “Fox News Sunday” that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) post-impeachment speech condemning former President Donald Trump “put a load on the back of Republicans.”
Saturday, McConnell said that Trump committed “a disgraceful dereliction of duty” by his actions before the deadly Capitol riot and was “practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day.”
Anchor Chris Wallace said, “Let me ask you about one person that he might be mad at and tell me if he is or he isn’t, Mitch McConnell, who made a curious speech yesterday in which he basically said the president is guilty, but that the Senate doesn’t have the power to convict, to act against a former president. What did he think of McConnell’s speech, what did you think of McConnell’s speech?”
Graham said, “Well, number one, I was a bit surprised, but I heard this in 1998. I’ve been in three of the four impeachments. I’m sorry about that. The bottom line — in 1998, you had a lot of Democrats acquit Clinton but got on the floor and said how bad he was. You know, Nancy Pelosi called us all cowards. I don’t think most Republicans care what she thinks.”
He continued, “I think Senator McConnell’s speech, he got a load off a chest obviously, but unfortunately he put a load on the back of Republicans. That speech you will see in 2022 campaigns. I would imagine if you’re a Republican running in Arizona or Georgia or New Hampshire, where we have a chance to take back the Senate, they may be playing Senator McConnell’s speech and asking about it as a candidate. I imagine if you’re an incumbent Republican, they’re going to be people asking you will you support Senator McConnell in the future. So I like them, Senator McConnell. He worked well with President Trump. I think his speech is an outlier regarding how Republicans feel about all this.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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