Sen. Lindsey Graham defended his past support for Hillary Clinton as secretary of state by highlighting her record of alleviating diseases in Africa during CNN’s undercard debate Wednesday evening.
But the South Carolina senator took the first major swipe at Clinton of the night, demanding of the former secretary, “Where the hell were you on the night of the Benghazi attacks?”
Graham compared the Democratic front-runner’s vast wealth to his own humble roots.
“Her definition of flat broke and mine are a little different,” Graham said, alluding to a high-profile gaffe in which Clinton once described her wealthy family as “dead broke” in the years after they left the White House.
Graham had begun the debate by declining to criticize Republican front-runner Donald Trump, citing President Ronald Reagan’s “11th commandment” to avoid attacking fellow Republicans.
“Syria is hell on earth, and it’s not going to be fixed by attacking each other,” Graham said.
The GOP senator also blasted Clinton’s rhetoric on middle class wages, claiming his small business policies could do a better job of lifting “squeezed” workers in the middle class.
