Lindsey Graham Reportedly Pushed for the 25th Amendment to Be Invoked on Jan. 6 to Oust Trump

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At times, he’s been a staunch ally. At others, he’s been — by recent Republican party standards at least — a vocal critic. On January 6, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) fell squarely into the latter category with regard to former President Donald Trump, a new book reveals.

According to an Axios preview of “This Will Not Pass,” a book by New York Times correspondents Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns set to be released in May, Graham made an angry phone call to White House Counsel Pat Cipollone on January 6, in which he raised the prospect of the 25th amendment being invoked — if Trump did not strongly denounce the mob attacking the Capitol.

“[W]e’ll be asking you for the 25th Amendment,” Graham reportedly told Cipollone, on the condition that Trump did not condemn the rioters.

Martin and Burns spoke with Graham on Jan. 6, after the Senate was evacuated. And Graham actually went so far as to suggest that President Joe Biden was, as Mike Allen of Axios put it, “the right man for this time.”

“I mean, how mad can you get at Joe Biden?” Graham said.

More recently, Graham has cowered to get back in Trump’s good graces. Yet his efforts don’t seem to be having much of an impact on Trump.

“Lindsay’s a nice guy, but he’s a RINO,” Trump said in a recent interview.