Former President Trump blasted Senator Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) as a “RINO” — a “Republican in Name Only” — on Tuesday, claiming the South Carolina Republican was “wrong” to say it would be “inappropriate” to pardon rioters who participated in the January 6 insurrection.
During an interview with Newsmax, Trump responded to comments Graham made on CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday.
Graham, a longtime Trump ally, said he did not agree with Trump telling attendees at a rally in Texas that if he ran and won the presidency again in 2024 he would “treat those people from January 6 fairly,” including pardoning some of the rioters.
“No, I don’t want to send any signal that it was OK to defile the Capitol,” Graham said when asked if he agreed.
“I think it’s inappropriate,” he went on to say. “I don’t want to do anything that would make this more likely in the future.”
Newsmax’s Rob Schmitt asked Trump about Graham’s comments.
“Well, Lindsey Graham’s wrong. I mean, Lindsey’s a nice guy, but he’s a RINO. Lindsey’s wrong,” Trump said.
“Lindsey Graham doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about if he says that,” Trump went on to say.
However, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) similarly came out against pardoning those who were involved in the January 6 riot.
“I would not be in favor of shortening any of the sentences for any of the people who pleaded guilty to crimes,” McConnell told reporters on Tuesday.
“The election of 2020 was decided Dec. 14 of 2020 when the Electoral College certified the winner of the election. What we saw here on January the 6th was an effort to prevent the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to another, which has never happened before in our country,” he added.
Trump and McConnell have not seen eye-to-eye since December 2020, but Graham has remained a steadfast supporter of the former president.
Tension began brewing between Trump and the Senate minority leader after McConnell told the former president in December 2020 that he had recognized Biden as the president-elect.
The pair clashed when McConnell called Trump’s actions leading up to the January 6 Capitol riots “a disgraceful dereliction of duty.” Though the GOP leader voted to acquit Trump on an article of impeachment accusing him of inciting an insurrection, he said the former president was “practically and morally responsible for provoking” the Capitol riot.
In April, Trump called McConnell a “dumb son of a b****” and a “stone-cold loser.”
However, Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R., S.D.) said shortly after that McConnell wanted the feud to end.
Source: National Review
