Senate

Graham to donate $500K to Trump’s legal defense fund

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said he will donate $500,000 to President Trump’s legal defense fund, and that the campaign will brief Senate Republicans about the election on Saturday.

Graham, during an interview with Fox News, defended Trump, and appeared to throw his support behind the president’s unsubstantiated claim of widespread fraud. 

“He helped Senate Republicans, we’re going to pick up House seats. … I’m going to donate $500,000 tonight to President Trump’s defense legal fund,” Graham said about the donation, which is expected to come out of his campaign account. 

Spokespeople for the Trump campaign didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the Saturday briefing. 

But Graham’s comments come after Donald Trump Jr. appeared to call the GOP senator out for not tweeting in defense of the president, adding, “No one is surprised.”

The president’s son has been spotlighting members of the party for not publicly defending the president, who is lashing out as he faces an increasingly narrow path to holding the White House. 

Trump has claimed without evidence that there is fraud and claimed that the election is being stolen from him. 

Graham, during the interview with Fox News, mirrored Trump, saying that the “allegations of wrongdoing are earth shattering” and called Philadelphia “crooked as a snake.”

When Sean Hannity appeared to float that the Pennsylvania GOP state legislature select its own electors, Graham didn’t rule it out. 

“Everything should be on the table,” Graham said. 

The Trump campaign has won one legal fight so far, which allowed its election monitors to stand a little bit closer to the ballot counting in Philadelphia.

Trump and his team also plan to challenge votes postmarked by Nov. 3 that are being accepted in Pennsylvania through Friday, per a ruling by the state Supreme Court.

But Trump’s claims have been widely disputed by election officials and even other Republicans. 

“No Republican elected official is going to stand behind that statement. None of them will,” said former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), adding that Trump’s comments about being cheated out of an election victory are “dangerous.”