Sen. Lindsey Graham meets with Donald Trump
South Carolina lawmaker joins 'Hannity' with reaction and analysis
Senate Judiciary Committee member Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told Fox News that earlier Friday he met with former President Donald Trump and that the two had a frank discussion about the state of the country.
Graham told "Hannity" that both agreed President Biden has been a disaster as commander-in-chief, and that Russian President Vladimir Putin no longer fears a serious U.S. response to his geopolitical proclivities.
"The news conference was a disaster on multiple levels … [and] he's been on the world stage, Joe Biden, for 40 years," Graham said. "He was in charge of the Ukraine portfolio under the Biden team, the Obama administration."
US president Donald Trump (L) smiles as he stands alongside US Senator Lindsey Graham (R), Republican of South Carolina. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)
"So everybody in Ukraine understands that Joe Biden didn't realize his own son was serving on the Burisma board — the most corrupt gas company in the world — while Biden was trying to clean up corruption."
Trump is "floored" by Biden's behavior and knows Putin realizes Biden's weakness as a world leader is evident, Graham said.
"Putin realizes that under Biden, he can invade Ukraine and get away with it," he continued. "He realized that under Trump, he could not invade the Ukraine and get away with it."
"But here's what President Trump said to me today: Putin is realizing that Biden's weak, but he doesn't realize that Biden won't be around in 2024 — so President Trump said today if they invade the Ukraine, the Russians will make it impossible for any future president to have a normal relationship with Russia, which I thought was a pretty damn wise observation."
Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Sputnik/Alexei Druzhinin/Kremlin via REUTERS)
Graham dubbed Russia, as he has in the past, a "gas station parading as a country," and that U.S. energy independence would weaken Russia's position.
Trump has said he led the United States to energy independence for the first time in history, and that Biden doomed that stature when he made canceling a Canadian-American pipeline his first act in office, compounded by his assenting to a waiver for Putin to finish a North Sea pipeline to Berlin.
"Here's my message to President Biden: You claim that no Republican wants to help you," Graham said. "That's not true. You've got to do things that we can help you with. Why don't we put sanctions on Russia now for the buildup, not the invasion?"
"All Democratic sanctions hit Russia after they invade. Let's punish Putin now. And why don't we do a land-lease bill like Sen. Cornyn has — doing for the Ukrainians what we did for the British in the early stages of World War II: endless weapons to make sure there are a bunch of dead Russians if they invade Ukraine."
"Biden cannot adjust his policies on energy, he cannot adjust his policies on borders because of the left. He can adjust his policies on the Ukraine — but we're running out of time."