Politics & News

Lindsey Graham just crossed another line in defending Trump

Published

2 weeks ago

November 18, 2020

Hassan Zia

Lindsey Graham just crossed another line in defending Trump

Prev postNext post

Recent off a surprisingly pedestrian election win on November 3, Lindsey Graham has determined to tackle a brand new function: Essentially the most aggressive enforcer of the concept President Donald Trump possibly — simply possibly! — did not lose the 2020 election.

In latest days, the South Carolina Republican has reached out to election officers in no less than three states — Georgia, Arizona and Nevada — to inquire concerning the course of by which, amongst different issues, signatures are verified on mail-in ballots.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, advised CNN that Graham had referred to as him to induce the removing of ballots amid the continuing hand recount within the state. “I bought the sense it implied that then you might throw these out for any, in case you have a look at the counties with the best frequent error of signatures,” Raffensperger told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Monday night time. “So that is the impression that I bought.”

Lindsey Graham advised CNN that Raffensperger’s allegations was “ridiculous.” However a staffer for the Georgia secretary of state affirmed Raffensperger’s model of occasions to CNN on Tuesday.

“What I heard was principally discussions about absentee ballots and if a doubtlessly … if there was a proportion of signatures that weren’t actually, actually matching, is there some level we might get to, lets say any person went to a courtroom might say, ‘Effectively, let’s throw (out) all these ballots as a result of we have now no means of realizing as a result of the ballots are separated,’ ” said Georgia election implementation manager Gabriel Sterling.

Graham, at the same time as he was defending his name to Raffensperger, revealed to reporters that he had additionally reached out to election officers in two different states the place the vote rely between Trump and President-elect Joe Biden was fairly shut — and the place the President has insisted, with zero proof, that there have been shenanigans concerned within the poll counting.

That declare, nevertheless, was virtually instantly disputed by Nevada Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske, who mentioned she had not spoken to Graham (or every other member of Congress) concerning the vote rely within the state. Graham told reporters he was unsure who he had talked to in Nevada (uh, OK) and that he had spoken with Arizona Republican Gov. Doug Ducey in Arizona.

After all, all of this back-and-forth over who Graham referred to as and what, particularly, he mentioned misses this bigger level: Why within the hell has Lindsey Graham self-deputized himself to play this function for Trump? Graham has mentioned he didn’t make these calls at Trump’s behest.

In spite of everything, it is slightly odd for the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee to be inserting private calls into states that had tight vote counts seeking, uh, details about their voting processes. It isn’t an excessive amount of to recommend that such calls is likely to be regarded by the folks on the opposite finish of the road as a little bit of intimidation. Think about you’re an elections official in Nevada — I would identify names however Graham cannot keep in mind who he talked to! — and a name is available in from Graham, one in every of Trump’s most loyal and excessive profile allies. Type of surprising! And positively slightly nerve-wracking!

Apart the opportunity of intimidation of election officers, there’s simply how the entire thing appears to be like. Which is, um, not good. As a result of why is a sitting US senator not from Georgia, Arizona or Nevada out of the blue so within the trivialities of how a state conducts its personal elections? And why did Graham simply occur to precise a lot curiosity in these three states that simply occurred to be swing states within the 2020 election? (Sidebar: There are not any penalties in politics. None.)

So — even for Graham, who has comfortably settled into his function as high Trump toady over the President’s first time period — this appears like a brand new line that he has crossed.

Which is odd. As a result of in 64 days, Donald Trump will not be president anymore. However Graham will nonetheless be within the Senate — and compelled to look his colleagues within the eye and clarify why he did what he did over the past 4 years.

With additional input from CNN

Prev postNext post

Related Topics:Lindsey Graham News Trump

Up Next

Rudy Giuliani and the Trump legal team’s wild, fact-free press conference

Don't Miss

Veterans Day 2020: Free food and other deals to honor members of the military

Hassan Zia

Hassan Zia is an accomplished News writer & working journalist in the industry for over 5 years. At Pakistan print media he established his skills in writing and publishing multiple news stories of daily reporting beats ranging from crime, drama, business, entertainment. An activist at heart Zia believes in sensitizing audiences on issues of social justice and equality. Using powerful technique of storytelling on humanistic themes: women, children, labor, peace & diversity etc. his work underpins the causes he’s concerned about. Besides being known for his activism and community work Zia is also associated with renowned universities as a visiting faculty member for over 3 years now. His academic background is a Masters in Mass in Communication.