Sen. Lindsey Graham clashed with ABC’s morning host, George Stephanopoulos, who once worked for then-President Bill Clinton, over former President Donald Trump’s indictment last week for his handling of classified materials.
Stephanopoulos asked the South Carolina Republican if he believes that Trump did not do anything wrong, which led Graham to respond by saying “we live in an America” where a former Democratic candidate for president, Hillary Clinton, could “set up a private server” in her basement to conduct government business and get away with it.
As Stephanopoulos attempted to interrupt, Graham broke in, “Let me finish! I’m trying to answer the question from a Republican point of view. That may not be acceptable on this show.”
“I don’t like that Mike Pence took classified information. I don’t like any of that. But what I don’t like is a system in America where the secretary of State, who’s a Democratic candidate for president, has people take a hammer to social media devices and break them apart, apply bleach-bit to a hard drive to erase emails. Allowed classified information to get on a felon’s computer, Anthony Weiner,” Graham added.
“Most Republicans believe we live in a country where Hillary Clinton did similar things and nothing happened to her. President Trump will have his day in court. But espionage charges are absolutely ridiculous. Whether you like Trump or not, he did not commit espionage,” Graham said.
“Your old boss committed perjury in a civil lawsuit, lost his law license, obstructed justice in a dozen ways, and he didn’t get prosecuted,” Graham continued, referencing Stephanopoulos’ work under Bill Clinton.
The host then said there is an audio recording of Trump “saying he knows this is secret information” and that “he knows he’s sharing it with other people,” before asking, “How is that okay?”
He didn’t ask where the recording came from or who may have made it and why.
“I am not saying it is OK. I am not saying it is OK to take a hammer to Blackberry. I think none of this is OK,” he said. “You got vice presidents, secretaries of state and presidents handling this stuff, you had Bill Clinton with tapes in his sock drawer. I would like to review the system. But here is the point I am trying to make.”
“What’s happening to Manhattan in Donald Trump has never happened to anybody in history of New York,” Graham continued. “I think the espionage charges are completely wrong and they paint an impression that does not exist. This is not espionage. And I do believe, George, most people on my side of the aisle believe that when it comes to Donald Trump, there are no rules. And you can do the exact same thing or something similar as Democrats, and nothing happens to you.”
