Lindsey Graham responds to Biden referencing him in Wilkes-Barre speech
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., blasts President Biden's thinly veiled shot from the stump on 'Jesse Watters Primetime.'
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., responded to President Biden's apparent critique during a rally Tuesday when he appeared to suggest Graham was calling for "blood in the streets" with a comment made on Fox News' "Sunday Night in America."
Speaking at a campaign-style event where he expressed support for Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa., and Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, Biden revisited Graham's comments regarding the public's potential reaction if former President Donald Trump is indicted or imprisoned following the Mar-a-Lago raid.
"I’ll say this, if there is a prosecution of Donald Trump for mishandling classified information after the Clinton debacle… there will be riots in the street," Graham told Trey Gowdy on Sunday's program.
In Wilkes-Barre, Biden questioned the state of the nation when "you turn on a television and see senior senators and congressmen saying if such and such happens, there'll be blood in the street. Where the hell are we?"
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On Tuesday, Graham said Biden was off-base with the apparent criticism, telling "Jesse Watters Primetime" he never called for violence and was simply expressing what would be a double-standard if the FBI sought prosecution of Trump after then-Director James Comey decided against indicting Hillary Clinton for what critics say was a much grosser mishandling of classified information.
Instead, Graham said Biden should look inward at his own administration, pointing to the fact Vice President Kamala Harris publicly promoted the left-wing Minnesota Freedom Fund during the 2020 George Floyd Riots. The fund bailed out suspects who were charged in connection with violence that occurred following Floyd's death.
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"What I said Sunday was Americans reject [and] I reject violence — but I also reject the double standard here," Graham said. "So if they try to prosecute President Trump for mishandling classified information after the Clinton debacle when she was secretary of state, people in this country will lose faith in law enforcement."
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"You don't hear the president talking about the FBI telling social media outlets that his son's laptop is a bunch of Russian disinformation. And it turns out it was actually true. You don't hear him talking about accountability at the FBI when they presided over an investigation of President Trump where they manufactured evidence, they lied to the FISA court."
"I reject violence. But, Mr. President, you need to talk to the vice president of the United States, your vice president, about bailing out rioters. Doesn't that encourage violence?"
Graham suggested Biden instead understand how federal agents in charge of "corrupt investigations" — appearing to reference Peter Strzok's and Andrew McCabe's involvement in the Trump-Russia probe — "get hired by CNN and MSNBC to be legal analysts."
That perception adds to the overall frustrations Americans have with their federal agencies, he said.