Flashback: Lindsey Graham Said People Should Tell ‘Race-Baiting Bigot’ Trump ‘Go to Hell’

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing on the Michael Horowitz report. In his opening statement, Graham went on the offensive against the inspector general’s findings that the FBI had legitimate grounds to investigate a possible connection between the Trump campaign and Russia’s election meddling.

Graham blasted the idea that the investigation wasn’t compromised by political bias in the FBI, reading out numerous texts Peter Strzok and Lisa Page exchanged in which they insulted then-candidate Donald Trump.

“God, Trump is a loathsome human,” Graham quoted the pair as having texted to each other.  “Oh my god, he’s an idiot,” read another. And another: “Trump is a disaster. I have no idea how destabilizing his presidency would be.”

Horowitz wrote in his report that Strzok and Page were involved in the preliminary discussions to investigate Trump, but Page “did not play a role in the decision to open Crossfire Hurricane,” and Strzok “was not the sole, or even the highest-level, decision maker” even if he was involved in those opening decisions.

Graham has been a staunch defender of Trump for some time now, but it might be worth remembering — in the context of his argument against these FBI staffers — that it wasn’t so long ago when he had a less-than-shining opinion about the president.

Back in 2015, Graham gave an interview to CNN where he reacted to Trump’s campaign proposal that America should ban Muslims from entering the country. Graham said the idea “disgusted” him, mocked Trump’s claim of being able to fix America’s problems, and called the future president “a race-baiting, xenophobic religious bigot.”

“He doesn’t represent my party, he doesn’t represent the values that the men and women who wear the uniform are fighting for,” Graham said. He went on to say Trump’s rhetoric is putting America’s servicemen and women at risk, stating Trump doesn’t “have a clue about anything…he’s empowering the enemy.”

Graham continued the interview by arguing Trump “is undercutting everything we stand for,” he’s turning Muslims against America, and that the best way to make America great again is “tell Donald Trump to go to Hell.”

Also, one minor external detail here, these tweets still exist:

Donald Trump is not a conservative Republican. He’s an opportunist. He’s not fit to be President of the United States.

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) February 17, 2016

If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed…….and we will deserve it.

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) May 3, 2016

We’ve come a long way since those days, huh?

Watch above, via Fox News and CNN.