Lindsey Graham Reacts to Leaked Audio of Him Praising Joe Biden: ‘I Was Wrong’
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) addressed comments he made on Jan. 6, 2021 praising then-President-Elect Joe Biden. He made the remarks after a mob of Donald Trump supporters stormed the Capitol.
On Tuesday, CNN aired audio of Graham speaking with New York Times reporter Jonathan Martin on that day. Martin has written a new book with colleague Alexander Burns titled This Shall Not Pass.
On the recording, the senator praised Biden, predicting the country would become “stronger”:
GRAHAM: We’ll actually come out of this thing stronger. Moments like this reset. It’ll take a while. People will calm down. People will [say] “I don’t want to be associated with that.” This is a group within a group. What this does, it’ll be a rallying effect for a while, where the country says, “We’re better than this.”
MARTIN: And Biden will help that, right?
GRAHAM: Totally, he’ll be maybe the best person to have, right? I mean, how mad can you get at Joe Biden?
Jesse Watters played the audio for Graham on Thursday’s Jesse Watters Primetime on Fox News.
“Joe Biden,” said the host. “The best person to have? Do you really believe that?”
“I was wrong,” replied the senator with a slight chuckle. “I’ve known Joe for 30 years. He’s a nice guy, but he’s been a disaster as president.”
Graham stated he hoped Biden would unite the country.
“But not only has he failed to bring us together,” he said. “He has made us less safe. He’s ruined our economy. All the bad guys are moving around the world. They didn’t do this on Trump’s watch because they were afraid of him. Nobody fears Joe Biden abroad, and at home his policies are failing.”
During his interview with the Times on Jan. 6, 2021, Graham also criticized Trump.
“He’s misjudged the passion, he plays the TV game and he went too far here,” the senator said. “That rally didn’t help, talking about primarying [Liz Cheney]. He created a sense of revenge.”
This snippet did not air during the segment.
Watch above via Fox News.
