- Republican Senator Lindsey Graham criticized President Donald Trump on Thursday after the US Capitol riots.
- “When it comes to accountability, the president needs to understand that his actions were the problem, not the solution,” said Graham.
- Graham said he was “embarrassed and disgusted” with Wednesday’s violation and described the perpetrators as “domestic terrorists” who need to be prosecuted.
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Republican Senator Lindsey Graham harshly criticized President Donald Trump on Thursday after the United States Capitol riots.
“When it comes to accountability, the president needs to understand that his actions were the problem, not the solution,” Graham said during a news conference, adding that the president’s legacy was “tarnished”.
“It breaks my heart that my friend, an important president, has allowed yesterday to happen and that will be an important part of his presidency,” he said. “It was a self-inflicted wound.”
A prominent ally of Trump, the South Carolina senator also criticized the president on Wednesday night, saying that “enough is enough” after protesters violated the Capitol building and forced Congress to evacuate.
Graham echoed his sentiment on Thursday, and criticized Trump’s legal team for making false claims about the election after President-elect Joe Biden was declared the winner.
“There has been a constant effort by people on the president’s legal team to provide misinformation, distort the facts, make accusations that cannot be proved. This needs to stop,” Graham said on Thursday.
“Yesterday’s rally was inappropriate, it got out of control and a good friend of mine, Rudy Giuliani, did not help,” he added. Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, led the legal challenges of his campaign against the 2020 elections, which failed. On Wednesday, before chaos broke out at the Capitol, Giuliani called for “trial by combat”.
Despite criticism, Graham said he does not believe that invoking the 25th Amendment, which would remove Trump from office, is “appropriate at this point” and that he is “looking for a peaceful transfer of power”.
Prior to Wednesday, Graham supported Trump, did not publicly acknowledge his defeat in the elections and even supported his allegations. On Thursday, when reporters pressed him on the subject, Graham deflected the issue.
“I said last night, Joe Biden is the president, he won. The Constitution worked,” said Graham.
Trump’s enemy in the 2016 election campaign, the senator approached the president over his four-year term. Still in December, the two went to play golf together at Trump’s Florida property.
“I don’t regret helping this president to make us more secure and prosperous. I have enjoyed my relationship with him, ”he said. “I hate that it ends like this.”
Graham said he was “embarrassed and disgusted” with Wednesday’s violation and will ask the Justice Department to prosecute the perpetrators, which he called “domestic terrorists”.
“The people sitting on the chairs [of the House and Senate chambers] need to be sitting in a cell, “said Graham.” People who attacked the Capitol police need to be accused of attacking a police officer. Sedition can be a burden for some of these people. ”