South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham wants President-elect Trump to take strong action against Russia for its hacking Democratic organizations and officials earlier this year, despite the incoming president not yet acknowledging Russia is the culprit behind the attacks.
“In a couple weeks, Donald Trump will be the defender of the free world and democracy. You should let everybody know in America — Republicans and Democrats — that you’re going to make Russia pay a price for trying to interfere,” Graham told NBC “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd in a preview clip released on Friday evening. “Even though it didn’t affect the outcome, they tried to interfere, and they need to pay a price and I don’t care what their motives were.”
Trump has been hesitant to name Russia as being behind the cyberattacks despite the intelligence reports that have blamed President Vladimir Putin’s country. Graham said Trump’s concerns stem from a bad impression it could give to the public.
“He’s worried that inquiring into what Russia did in the election is going to undermine his credibility and his legitimacy,” said Graham. “Putin’s not the reason that Clinton lost and Trump won. I don’t think anybody’s saying that… What we’re trying to do is find out what the Russians did in our elections and make sure that other people including the Russians won’t do it next time.”
Graham did break with Trump to say a “14-year-old kid or 300-pound guy” was not behind the hacks, the first hunch of which Trump had brought up last month.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who also sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee with Graham, said Russia’s cyberattacks are not the only types of air attacks America has faced in recent years. McCain said going forward, the Trump administration will need a consistent policy in addressing these foreign affairs to replace the lack of policy President Obama’s administration has implemented.
