‘Are You Trying to Rewrite History?!’ NBC’s Kristen Welker Throws Down With Lindsey Graham in Heated Battle About Trump Accusing Obama of Treason

NBC’s Kristen Welker got in a heated battle with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) about President Donald Trump’s claim that former President Barack Obama committed treason.

In a contentious interview Sunday on Meet the Press, Welker confronted the senator about Trump’s claim against Obama — which is centered on newly declassified files which allege top Obama administration officials manufactured information related to Russian interference in the 2016 election.

“Now, Senator, as you are well aware, this actually contradicts a bipartisan Senate intelligence report led by Marco Rubio — which found that Russia did in fact interfere in the election,” Welker said. “Do you actually believe that Former President Obama committed treason?

“Well, I think somebody needs to look at what we found,” Graham replied. “The intel committee looked at the matter. And they said in 2017, the intelligence analysis of 2017 showing that Russia was trying to interfere in our election was real. They didn’t achieve their goal. But what she found, Ms. [Tulsi] Gabbard, is that in 2016, the intelligence community told President Obama, ‘There’s no evidence that Russia was involved in trying to change the outcome of the election.’ And he supposedly told a group of people, ‘Keep looking.’ And the analysis changed. So what we’re looking at is, what role did Obama play in 2016 to change the narrative that resulted in 2017?

“I’m not alleging he committed treason, but I am saying it bothers me, it’s disturbing that this is new information.”

After Graham called for a special counsel to investigate, Welker noted there already has been a Trump-appointed special counsel which looked into the origins of the Russia probe. That investigation found no evidence of political interference.

Welker proceeded to play a soundbite from 2017 of Graham articulating his belief that Russia interfered in the 2016 election.

“The Russians did it,” Graham said “It was the Russians who tried to interfere in our election. Every member of the committee agrees it was the Russians. They didn’t change the outcome, but they did release information embarrassing to the Democratic Party. It did affect Hillary Clinton. There’s only one person in Washington that I know of that has any doubt about what Russia did in our election. And it’s President Trump.”

“Senator, are you now saying that you don’t believe that Russia tried to interfere in the 2016 election?” Welker asked.

“Well, what I am saying is that you left a lot out, here,” Graham fired back. “It’s called the Haaretz report. It’s the Mueller investigation was crooked and rotten to the core. The Washington Post and the New York Times got a Pulitzer prize for reporting on Trump’s campaign’s relationship with Russia. It was all BS. At the time, I didn’t know any of that. At the time, I didn’t know that they were manufacturing evidence to get FISA warrants. There was a confirmation bias. [Special Counsel John] Durham didn’t say there was no political bias. He said quite the opposite.”

The Durham report, in fact, stated: “Although the evidence we collected revealed a troubling disregard for the Clinton Plan intelligence and potential confirmation bias in favor of continued investigative scrutiny of Trump and his associates, it did not yield evidence sufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that any FBI or CIA officials intentionally furthered a Clinton campaign plan to frame or falsely accuse Trump of improper ties to Russia Nor did it reveal sufficient evidence to prove that the omission of the Clinton Plan intelligence from applications to the FISC was a conscious or intentional decision.”

Welker then confronted Graham about whether there is an ulterior motive to these new claims against Obama and top members of his administration.

“Are you trying to rewrite history to distract from the Epstein matter, Senator?!” Welker asked.

“No!” Graham shot back. “I am trying to let you know and the media know that we found something we didn’t know before. At the end of the day, I’m not calling for prosecution against President Obama for treason. But I am calling for an investigation. Mr. Mueller also said there was no credible evidence that President Trump colluded with the Russians. For years, and months, and days, and weeks, people had their lives turned upside down, chasing the Mueller narrative that Trump was in bed with the Russians, that the Trump campaign was colluding with the Russians. The only people colluding with the Russians were the Hillary Clinton campaign and Christopher Steele manufacturing a document to get warrants against Carter Page, based on lies and falsehoods. So, yeah, I’m very familiar with it. What you don’t seem to acknowledge is there’s something new being found.”

“Senator, you’re saying there’s something new,” Welker replied. “This report goes back to 2020. It’s five years old! There’s actually nothing new in this report and nothing that changes any conclusion!”

“It’s new to me!” Graham responded. “You’re trying to sweep this stuff under the rug! And that’s not right.”

Welker got in a parting shot before switching topics.

“But Senator, you know that at the time, you said you did believe the assessments and the multiple investigations,” Welker said. “But let me move on to Gaza.”

“Whatever,” said a frustrated Graham, under his breath.

Watch above, via NBC.