Graham on E. Jean Carroll rape allegation: Trump ‘denied it, and that’s all I needed to hear’

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Tuesday weighed in on E. Jean Carroll’s allegation that President Trump raped her, saying Trump “denied it, and that’s all I needed to hear.”

“The president has denied it,” Graham said, according to multiple reports. “I have no reason to … you know, no. He’s denied it, and that’s all I needed to hear.”

Senator Lindsey Graham, R of SC, on the latest rape allegation against President Trump: “The president has denied it. I have no reason to .— you know, no. He’s denied it and that’s all I needed to hear.”

— Nicholas Fandos (@npfandos) June 25, 2019

“The president’s firmly denied it. That’s the end of it for me unless she shows something new,” Graham says when asked about E. Jean Carroll’s rape allegation against Trump

— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) June 25, 2019

“That’s the end of it for me unless she shows something new,” Graham added.

Sen. Lindsey Graham on E. Jean Carroll’s rape accusation of Trump:

“He’s denied it. That’s all I needed to hear.”

— Sam Brodey (@sambrodey) June 25, 2019

Graham’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill.

Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) slammed Graham for his remarks, tweeting, “Imagine if all accused criminals were held to the same standard of evidence to which Senator Graham, the Republican Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, holds Republican presidents.”

The Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee – who leads oversight of the country’s criminal justice system and the vetting of its federal judges – says he is willing to ignore allegations that the sitting President of the United States committed rape because “he’s denied it.” https://t.co/PgrKKdg1eQ

— Rep. Don Beyer (@RepDonBeyer) June 25, 2019

Trump said Monday that Carroll was “totally lying” when she accused him last week of raping her in a New York department store in the mid-1990s.{mosads}

In an exclusive interview with The Hill on Monday, Trump denied the allegations, saying, “Number one, she’s not my type. Number two, it never happened, OK?”

“I know nothing about her,” Trump said Monday. “She is — it’s just a terrible thing that people can make statements like that.”

Carroll later told CNN, “I love that I’m not his type.”

Carroll is one of more than a dozen women to have accused Trump of sexual misconduct since he kicked off his presidential campaign in 2015.