Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) read a series of anti-Trump texts from former FBI special agent Peter Strzok and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, including one text calling Trump “a f—ing idiot.”
The expletive was broadcast across multiple national cable news outlets, including Fox News, CNN and MSNBC, all of which were covering the Judiciary Committee’s highly anticipated hearing Wednesday featuring Attorney General William Barr.
Graham, the chairman of the committee, read the text out loud before acknowledging that the hearing was being covered live, adding, “Sorry to the kids out there.”
The private text from Strzok to Page was from October 2016, shortly before the presidential election.{mosads}
Networks did not “bleep out” the quote read by Graham on Wednesday, as it appears there was no delay set on the remarks being broadcast live from the hearing.
Graham, a 2016 presidential candidate who was particularly critical of President Trump at the time, has since become a staunch advocate of the president on many issues, particularly regarding the special counsel probe into Russia’s election interference in 2016.
On Wednesday morning, Graham stated in extended opening remarks his intention to investigate the origins of the FBI’s counterintelligence probe into the Trump campaign’s alleged ties to Russian officials.
Barr was testifying before the Senate panel Wednesday about his handling of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe.