Lindsey Graham Criticizes Trump Leaving John Bolton ‘Hanging’ With No Security Detail — Calls On Senate to ‘Look at What Happened’
Senaotr Lindsey Graham (R-SC) called on his colleagues to probe President Donald Trump’s decision last week to pull the security detail for his former adviser and frequent critic John Bolton.
Trump raised eyebrows when he pulled security details for Bolton and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. In a post on social media, Bolton slammed the decision and said his life could be in danger.
“The Justice Department filed criminal charges against an Iranian Revolutionary Guard official in 2022 for attempting to hire a hit man to target me,” Bolton wrote. ” That threat remains today, as also demonstrated by the recent arrest of someone trying to arrange for President Trump’s own assassination.”
On Sunday’s State of the Union on CNN, anchor Dana Bash pressed Graham about the issue and threats from Iran to assassinate Bolton
She asked, “Should Trump have revoked that security?” Graham replied:
You know, I’ve talked to Senator Cotton about this. He’s the chairman of the Intel committee, he’s very, very good man. He said he had a briefing and he asked the briefers if it were you or your family, would you think you deserve a detail? And they said yes. You know, whether you like John Bolton or not, that’s not the question for me, is it? You don’t want to leave people hanging. There’s no doubt in my mind the Iranians have been out to kill President Trump. I’ve been briefed about it. I know he’s been briefed about it. I’m glad he has protection. Whether you like Bolton or anybody else, we need to make sure that if you serve in our government and you take a foreign power at the request of the administration, that we do not leave you hanging.
[…]
I think I think we need to – the Senate needs to look at what happened and sit down and figure out what’s the best way forward. Everybody doesn’t deserve a detail all their life. It needs to be as needed. But what Senator Cotton told me, the threat seemed to be real against these individuals. And I don’t want to leave them hanging. It makes it hard to recruit people in the future. And, you know, if something happened to these people and, you know, President Trump needs to think about, you know, getting people to serve in the future. Owning that decision.
Asked point blank if Trump’s pulling Bolton’s security was a “mistake,” the senator replied, “Yeah.”
Graham called on his Senate colleagues to take the matter of Secret Service details for former government employees, citing credible threats against Bolton cited by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR):
Watch above via CNN.
