Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, on Sunday called out two of President Donald Trump‘s major actions in his first week back in the Oval Office—the pardoning of January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol rioters and the removal of security details for two of his former national security advisers.
Newsweek has reached out to the White House press office and Graham’s communications director for comment via email on Sunday.
Why It Matters
Graham, a longtime ally of the president’s, has occasionally criticized some of Trump’s decisions, and has joined a small group of Republicans who have voiced their discontent with him pardoning the rioters.
In his first week of office, Trump has exercised his executive power to pardon the U.S. Capitol rioters and remove security details from some of his former staff. These have raised concerns among Democrats and some Republicans about the use of presidential power and the precedent it may set.
What To Know
Hours after taking office on Monday, Trump granted pardons to almost all of the more than 1,500 people convicted for their roles in the riot. Some of those involved had plead guilty, others convicted of assaulting police officers, and some charged with seditious conspiracy.
Trump’s actions have legitimized the rioters after the FBI and other federal agencies spent tens of millions of dollars and years identifying and prosecuting them for their attempts to stop Congress from confirming Joe Biden‘s presidential win in 2020.
On CNN‘s State of the Union on Sunday morning, Graham told host Dana Bash that “when you pardon people that attacked police officers, you’re sending the wrong signal to the public at large.”
He noted that pardons don’t apply solely to Trump, adding that former President Joe Biden also issued pardons in his final days, including for his son Hunter Biden, despite previously stating he would not.
“President Trump said he was going to do this, I don’t like this, I don’t like it on either side, and I think the public doesn’t like it either, if this continues, if this is the norm, there might be an effort to reign in the pardon power of the president,” the senator said.
Also on Sunday morning, he told NBC News’ Meet the Press host Kristen Welker that Trump “had the legal authority to do it, but I fear that you will get more violence. Pardoning the people who went into the Capitol and beat up a police officer, violently, I think was a mistake because it seems to suggest that’s an okay thing to do.”
He reiterated his stance, saying, “Pardoning violent people who beat up cops, I think that’s a mistake.”
On the topic of removing security protection for former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former national security adviser John Bolton, both who served under Trump, Graham told Bash, “We need to make sure that if you serve in our government, and you take on foreign power at the request of the administration, that we do not leave you hanging.”
Pompeo and Bolton were granted security details by the Biden administration due to ongoing threats related to their work with Iran during Trump’s first administration, notably their involvement in the drone strike that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, leader of the Quds Force, in early 2020.
Bolton has long been at odds with Trump since leaving the White House after being fired in 2019 and has become a vocal critic.
“Whether you like John Bolton or not, that’s not the question for me. You don’t want to leave people hanging,” Graham said on CNN.
Bash further pressed Graham on the matter and asked: “Just to put a finer point on it, it was a mistake” to which Graham responded, “Yeah. If the intel is what Senator [Tom] Cotton said, I think we should keep the details.”
The intelligence community reportedly briefed the new administration on the threat level relating to Pompeo and Bolton.
AP Photo/Ben Curtis
What People Are Saying
John Bolton, Trump’s former national security advisor told CNN on Thursday: “I think I can speak for all the former officials who have been receiving different kinds of protection, we don’t want it for the rest of our lives. We’d be delighted if tomorrow the intelligence community concluded that the Iranian threat had disappeared, or the regime had disappeared.”
Senator Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, criticized Trump’s decision, telling Newsweek on Tuesday that while she believes “some Americans were caught up in the crowd on January 6 and may well deserve the clemency President Trump has given,” adding that there is a “great difference between violent crimes and non-violent crimes. I do not support pardons given to people who engaged in violence on January 6, including assaulting police officers, or breaking windows to get into the Capitol, for example.”
Senator Lisa Murkowski, an Alaskan Republican, told NBC News in a statement regarding the pardons: “I do fear the message that is sent to these great men and women that stood by us.”
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican and staunch Trump loyalist, on X, formerly Twitter, wrote: “It’s over. It’s finally over. J6’ers are being released TONIGHT!! Never forget what the Democrats did and how they prosecuted J6’ers but NOT Antifa and BLM. Never again!!!
Democratic California Representative and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, on her website: “It is shameful that the President has decided to make one of his top priorities the abandonment and betrayal of police officers who put their lives on the line to stop an attempt to subvert the peaceful transfer of power. Despite the President’s decision, we must always remember the extraordinary courage and valor of the law enforcement heroes who stood in the breach and ensured that democracy survived on that dark day.”
What Happens Next
Despite his contradiction with Trump over the pardons and security details, Graham is likely to remain a strong Trump ally in the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate.
