Ex-Trump White House aide Grisham: Graham’s riot comment ‘gives me chills’
Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham criticized Sen. Lindsey Graham(R-S.C.) for recent comments warning of “riots in the streets” if former President Trump is prosecuted, adding that his comments are “driving the narrative.”
In an interview with CNN, Grisham added that there is “some concern” in national security circles on what it would mean if Trump is prosecuted for his handling of classified materials found when the FBI searched his Mar-a-Lago home and whether it would lead to violence.
She added that Graham’s comments gives her “chills” and makes her “nervous.”
“These Republican men in leadership, continue to do what their King Trump says and it’s all to save their own political careers and it’s sad because it gives me chills, it makes me nervous.”
She also referenced Trump’s recent comments on his social media network, Truth Social, sharing that “we’ve seen the types of things that happen when they start to speak in this way,” including direct attacks against FBI agents and against the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
Grisham also took aim at Graham and added, “have we learned nothing from Jan. 6? [That] is what I thought when I started seeing the clips of Lindsey Graham and what he said, and the fact that they’re now questioning the timing with the midterms.”
The ex-White House staffer added that the Department of Justice gave Trump the opportunity to give the documents back “quietly.”
“Make no mistake, this has all been on Donald Trump’s timeline. You know, the DOJ went out of their way to give them the opportunity to give all of these documents back and to do it quietly. Had they just done what was asked almost two years ago, there probably wouldn’t have been an FBI raid, and we wouldn’t be here in this moment 10 weeks away from the midterms,” she added.
Graham expressed concern about the possible results of a Trump prosecution on Fox News’s “Sunday Night in America” broadcast, and said that Trump is treated with “a double standard”.
“If there’s a prosecution of Donald Trump for mishandling classified information, after the Clinton debacle … there’ll be riots in the streets,” Graham told Fox News.
The South Carolina Republican has also been subpoenaed in a probe in connection with phone calls made to Georgia election officials seeking to change the election results in the state.
Republican strategist Susan Del Percio also told MSNBC that “someone must have dropped Lindsey Graham on his head this weekend, because there is no way this is acceptable discussion for any U.S. senator.”
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