Former President Donald Trump called Sen. Lindsey Graham a “RINO” in a show of umbrage taken with the South Carolina Republican criticizing his floating of pardons for people charged in connection to the Capitol riot.
He made the comment during a Newsmax interview that aired Tuesday night when host Robb Schmitt reacted to Graham saying over the weekend on CBS News that Trump’s pardon suggestion was “inappropriate.” It shows that although Trump and Graham have developed a friendship since being bitter rivals during the 2016 election primaries, the former president is still willing to grouse about his ally when they have a difference of opinion.
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“Well, Lindsey Graham is wrong. I mean, Lindsey is a nice guy, but he’s a RINO,” Trump said, employing the acronym for “Republican in Name Only” often used by members of the GOP to criticize each other.
“Lindsey’s wrong. Look, they tried to burn down Washington — we’re talking federal buildings. They were terrible. Every Democrat city was on fire, and nobody says anything about it. Antifa and BLM were causing so many problems, including death,” Trump continued.
Trump argued that unlike the protests during the summer of 2020, only “one young fine woman” died during the Jan. 6 riot on Capitol Hill. In truth, five people died were found to have died after the riot ended. Trump set his focus on Ashli Babbitt, a supporter of his who he said was killed by a “ruthless man who never should have used his gun to shoot her.” The Capitol Police officer who shot and killed Babbitt, Lt. Michael Byrd, told NBC News last year that he used his gun on her as a last resort.
The Justice Department declined to charge Byrd in connection to the shooting, and the Capitol Police separately found that his “actions were consistent with the officer’s training and USCP policies and procedures” and that he “potentially saved Members and staff from serious injury and possible death” at the hands of the rioters.
During a rally in Texas on Saturday, Trump said that if he were to run and become president in 2024, he would make sure the Capitol rioters were treated fairly, adding, “If it requires pardons, we will give them pardons because they are being treated so unfairly.”
Trump also said he felt many of the rioters had been slapped with punishments that were out of proportion with what they did, describing some of the rioters as “patriots.”
“Out of proportion — like, 20 times out of proportion. These people are being persecuted. And the other when they caught people killing people, they want to give them the minimum sentence. They’re out there fighting for the minimum sentence. It’s a very unfair situation,” Trump said. “So I would absolutely be prepared, and Lindsey Graham doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about if he says that because you have to have equal justice. It’s very, very unfair what’s happened to this group of people.”
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Trump also argued that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi should be investigated for “doing such a bad job on Capitol security” prior to the riot, insisted that the 2020 contest was a “rigged election,” and again vented about former Vice President Mike Pence’s refusal to try to overturn the results of the 2020 election in their favor when Congress was counting the electoral votes.
In addition, Trump reflected on his presidency.
When asked why many people felt exhausted “fighting the swamp” during his years in office, Trump argued that the “radical left” tried to push impeachment and Russia collusion “hoaxes.” He said Sen. Tim Scott, a South Carolina Republican, looked at the phone call he had with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and determined it was “perfect.” At the time of Trump’s first impeachment, Scott released a statement saying the call was not perfect but was also not impeachable.
