GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina, reportedly called for the shooting of Trump supporters as they breached the U.S. Capitol on January 6, according to a new report by The Washington Post.
Citing sources with knowledge of Graham’s reaction to the attack, The Post reported that Graham was so angry at being forced to flee the Senate while confirming the results of the 2020 election, he told Capitol police to start shooting Trump supporters as they stormed the Senate Chamber.
“What are you doing?” Graham reportedly told Senate sergeant-at-arms, before yelling: “Take back the Senate! You’ve got guns. Use them.”
Getting no immediate response from sergeant-at-arms, he raised his voice even louder and repeated “We give you guns for a reason — use them,” according to WaPo.
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The report goes on to claim that the South Carolina Republican called Ivanka Trump and begged her to get her father to tell the rioters to leave the building.
“You need to get these people out of here,” he told Ivanka, according to WaPo. “This thing is going south. This is not good. You’re going to have to tell these people to stand down. Stand down!”
After the initial burst of bipartisan horror at the Capitol riot, however, many Republican officials fell back in line with Trump.
As noted by The Post, six days after Graham denounced Trump on the Senate floor, “he accepted a ride with the president on Air Force One for a PR trip along the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas. Graham later came out against the impeachment proceedings that Democrats were already seeking.
Even Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (KY), who had blamed Trump’s “crescendo of conspiracy theories” for the Capitol attack, quickly fell back on Trump’s side.
“We got to everyone,” said a Trump aide. “We got McConnell, we got to McCarthy.”
As noted by the Washington Post, the message was clear: If you vote for impeachment, “you’re screwed.”
Read the full report at The Washington Post.
