If there’s one thing worse than a liar it’s a bad liar, and Lindsey Graham is most definitely that. On Sunday, the South Carolina senator appeared on Fox News where he said these exact words: “If they try to prosecute President Trump for mishandling classified information after Hillary Clinton set up a server in her basement, there literally will be riots in the street.”
@LindseyGrahamSC “there literally will be riots in the street,” if Trump prosecuted, he said Sunday in a Fox News interview. pic.twitter.com/65Q1o4Gwn3
— Sam J. Rosenfeld (@SamjLondon) August 30, 2022
The backlash to Graham’s words was swift, with many interpreting his warning as more of a threat. MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell went so far as to compare him to notorious Nazi sympathizer Vidkun Quisling. But it seemed to take Joe Biden weighing in to get Graham to react. On Tuesday, the president—a longtime friend and colleague of Graham’s—told a group of supporters: “The idea that you turn on a television and see a senior senator and congressmen saying if such and such happens, there will be blood in the street. Where the hell are we?”
Biden: The idea that you turn on a television and see a Senior Senator and Congressmen saying if such and such happens, there will be blood in the street. Where the hell are we? pic.twitter.com/73f3C3R9x5
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 30, 2022
Which, in turn, prompted Graham to go back on Fox News in an attempt to walk back that thing we all heard him say, and essentially claim that he didn’t say it. As the senator explained it:
“What I said Sunday was… I reject violence, but I also reject the double-standard here. So, if they try to prosecute President Trump for mishandling classified information after the [Hillary] Clinton debacle, when she was secretary of state, people in this country will lose faith in law enforcement.”
Graham: What I said Sunday was I reject violence pic.twitter.com/rWfnpHFXGH
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 30, 2022
Which is not at all what he said, as you can see for yourself — again — above.