Sen. Lindsey Graham on Sunday criticized President Trump for attempting to “throw a lifeline” to Republican candidate Roy Moore for Alabama’s Senate seat.
“He’s definitely trying to throw a lifeline to Roy Moore,” Graham, R-S.C., said of Trump on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“What I would tell President Trump is if you think winning with Roy Moore is going to be easy for the Republican party, you’re mistaken.”
Graham was responding to a question about a tweet Trump wrote earlier Sunday, in which he ripped Democratic candidate Doug Jones as a potential “disaster” for Alabama’s senate seat.
Trump has split from Republican lawmakers by refusing to criticize Moore, who is under siege after multiple women alleged Moore either sexually assaulted them or attempted to date them when they were teenagers and Moore was in his 30s.
Moore is accused of molesting a woman when she was 14 and he was 32. Moore has denied all the allegations.
Republican lawmakers have mostly called on Moore to drop out of the race if the allegations are true.
Some Republican senators have called on the upper chamber to expel Moore if he is elected.
Trump, meanwhile, has come close to endorsing Moore and repeatedly said Moore denies the charges.
Graham on Sunday said Republicans are facing a lose-lose situation with Moore.
“From a Republican point of view, I don’t see — I don’t know what winning looks like for Roy Moore,” Graham said. “If he wins, you get the baggage of him winning and it becomes a story every day about whether or not you believe the women or Roy Moore. If you lose, you give the Senate seat to a Democrat. The moral of the story is, don’t nominate somebody like Roy Moore who could actually lose a seat that any other Republican could win.”
