Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) condemned the Department of Justice’s move to charge former President Donald Trump over his handling of classified documents, specifically calling the espionage charges “absolutely ridiculous,” on Sunday.
The South Carolina senator, during an appearance on This Week with George Stephanopoulos, admitted the 45th President did do some things wrong about having classified documents in his possession but reiterated that he believed the DOJ’s case against Trump is overreaching.
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“Donald Trump, you may hate his guts, but he is not a spy. He did not commit espionage,” Graham said. “Look who’s been charged under espionage, Julian Assange, Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning, people who turned over classified information to news organizations to hurt the country or provided it to a foreign power. That did not happen here.”
Trump was indicted on 37 counts by a grand jury on charges brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith last week. Trump is charged with 31 counts of violating a part of the Espionage Act that bars willful possession of national defense information by someone not authorized to have it.
Such information is defined as “any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, or note relating to the national defense, or information relating to the national defense which information the possessor has reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation.”
Graham continued to compare Trump’s situation with the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails when she used a personal email server during her tenure as secretary of state.
The FBI did not charge Clinton. Then-Director James Comey noted that charges typically come in cases with “clearly intentional and willful mishandling of classified information; or vast quantities of materials exposed in such a way as to support an inference of intentional misconduct; or indications of disloyalty to the United States; or efforts to obstruct justice.”
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“What he did is very similar in my view to what Hillary Clinton did,” Graham said at the beginning of the segment. “ I promise you most Republicans believe that the law is used as a weapon against Donald Trump.”
If convicted, Trump could face jail time for the alleged crimes related to the mishandling of classified materials. President Joe Biden is currently under a special counsel investigation regarding his alleged mishandling of classified documents.
