Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Friday that he was “pissed” during Thursday’s Senate Judiciary Committee, during which the panel heard the testimony of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and his accuser Christine Blasey Ford.
Graham told “Fox & Friends” that Democrats are engaging in “politics of destruction” and allowing unsubstantiated and uncorroborated claims to take down a credible, qualified nominee.
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“If [Republicans] legitimize this by voting ‘no,’ then you are setting up the destruction of all future nominees,” Graham said. “You’re denying a good man, highly qualified, who’s led an incredible life, the chance to serve the country in the position he is amply qualified for. You’re legitimizing the politics of destruction. You are missing a lot if you don’t see this as a political hit job.”
Graham said he is “pissed” because he voted for U.S. Supreme Court nominees with different political affiliations than his because he believed they were qualified for the position.
“I had it up to here because I voted for [Sonia] Sotomayor and [Elena] Kagan. Some people accused Sotomayor of being a racist because of a single speech, I didn’t buy that. They accused Kagan of being un-American because she supported kicking the ROTC unit out of Harvard, well that’s just Harvard. They are good liberal judges, good women, and I can’t imagine I would have done this to them,” Graham continued. “And what was done to Brett Kavanaugh was planned, orchestrated, politics at its worst, the accusations just offends my sensibility.”
The senator from South Carolina remembers the criticism he received from many constituents for voting for such liberal judges.
Graham has been a vocal supporter of Kavanaugh and has questioned the accusations and attacks on him by Democrats since Ford went public with her allegations this month.
Thursday night, after the Senate Judiciary Committee concluded its hearing on Ford’s accusations, someone working from a House of Representatives office published the home addresses of Graham and Sens. Mike Lee and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, on Wikipedia.
Graham said he did not get any sleep Thursday night because there were people outside of his residence all night and that he has changed his cellphone number.
“I got a new number and a bunch of people banging on my door last night,” Graham said.
