Lindsey Graham Storms Out of Judge Jackson Hearing After Going Off on Gitmo: ‘Keep ‘Em in Jail!’
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) stomped away from Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing after getting in a heated clash with Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL) over Guantanamo Bay.
Jackson’s confirmation entered its second day of hearings on Tuesday, and one of the recurring topics was her representation of Guantanamo Bay detainees during her career as a public defender. The judge explained she was “standing up for the constitutional value of representation” with her work, and as this topic came up during questions from Graham, he went into a tangent about how many Gitmo detainees rejoined extremist groups after being released.
Graham concluded his time with more complaints about people who supported Jackson’s nomination over Judge J. Michelle Childs. After this, Durbin pointed out the exorbitant cost of keeping Guantanamo Bay open and suggested it would cost “dramatically less” to hold Gitmo detainees in supermax federal prisons within the U.S.
Shortly thereafter, Graham challenged Durbin over his recidivism figures before exclaiming “We had em, and they got loose and they started killing people!”
The tangent continued:
The system has failed miserably, and advocates to change the system — like she was advocating — would destroy our ability to protect this country. We’re at war, not fighting a crime. This is not some passage of time event. As long as they are dangerous, I hope they all die in jail if they’re gonna back to kill Americans. It won’t bother me one bit if 39 of them die in prison. That’s a better outcome than letting them go, and if it costs $500 million to keep ’em in jail, keep ’em in jail, because they’re gonna go back to the fight. Look at the friggin Afghan government! It’s made up of former detainees at Gitmo! This whole thing by the left about this war ain’t working!
From there, Graham got up and walked away from the dais while Durbin continued.
Watch above, via Fox News.
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