Senate

Graham found Trump election fraud arguments suitable for ‘third grade’: Woodward book

by Dominick Mastrangelo - 09/20/21 9:20 AM ET

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) personally investigated former President Trump’s claims of electoral fraud in the days following the 2020 election and found them to be elementary and lacking in substance, according to a new book by journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa.

After pressing the White House and Trump’s legal team for evidence to support the former president’s claims of a “rigged” election, Graham privately described Trump’s efforts as suitable for “third grade,” The Washington Post, citing the new book, “Peril,” reported on Monday

“Give me some names,” Graham reportedly told Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s then-personal attorney, and Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff during, a meeting on Jan. 2. “You need to put it in writing. You need to show me the evidence.”

After Giuliani and Trump’s legal team provided Graham with documents that allegedly raised questions about vote totals in several states, Graham, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee at the time, sent them to the Lee Holmes, the panel’s top legal counsel, Woodward and Robert Costa write, according to the Post.

“Holmes found the sloppiness, the overbearing tone of certainty, and the inconsistencies disqualifying,” the authors added. “The memos, he determined, ‘added up to nothing.’ ”

After a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol complex on Jan. 6, Graham voted to certify President Biden’s Electoral College victory and said he had “tried to be helpful” to Trump but was ready to recognize Biden as the president.

“Trump and I, we had a hell of a journey,” Graham said from the Senate floor that day. “I hate it being this way. Oh my god I hate it … but today all I can say is count me out. Enough is enough. I tried to be helpful.”

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) also oversaw what was described as a “parallel” effort to investigate Trump’s claims of election fraud and was unpersuaded, the Post reported on Monday, citing the new book.

Graham’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Woodward and Costa’s reporting.