On Monday, Senator Lindsey Graham held a press conference to discuss the results of the Mueller investigation into alleged collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia, and Graham was clear that he was through with the Democrats and the intelligence community going unscathed despite possible evidence of wrongdoing, blasting, “When it comes to the FISA warrant, the Clinton campaign, the counter-intelligence investigation, it’s pretty much been swept under the rug except by a few Republicans in the House. Those days are over.”
Graham began by admonishing reporters, “Here’s the deal: were going to have about thirty or forty minutes together and y’all won’t ambush me every five minutes in the hall.” He noted that grand jury information contained in the Mueller report cannot be released as that is prohibited by law as it would compromise the grand jury process.
Graham then launched into his condemnation of the press for their one-sided reporting and the lack of interest in pursuing possible wrongdoing by Democrats:
What happens next is that I, had been talking since 2017, the end of 2017, about the other side of the story. And nobody much appeared to care but I hope you will find some interest now, that the FISA warrant issued against Carter Page, based on a dossier prepared by Christopher Steele, is at a minimum, disturbing. Whether or not it is illegal I don’t yet know. So I’m gonna get answers to this. If no one else cares, it seems to be Republicans do, and that’s sad, because if the shoe were on the other foot, it would be front-page news all over the world. The double standard here has been striking, and quite frankly, disappointing.
I am 100% convinced that if the Republican Party had hired Mr. Steele to go to Russia and investigate (Hillary) Clinton, and the report was prepared and given to the Department of Justice, used to get a warrant against a Clinton associate, and the underlying information in the dossier proved to be garbage, everybody in the world would have it on the front page; it would be endless chatter on the cable networks.
I’m also convinced if the agents involved in investigating Clinton, if the shoe were on the other foot, hated her and wanted Trump to win, we’d be having a thorough discussion. I’m also convinced that if they interviewed Trump with a couple of his associates there, not under oath, and had already made up a decision not to charge him, that there would be outrage in this country.
Graham continued that it made “eminent sense” to have Robert Mueller conduct the investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia rather than Attorney General Jeff Sessions, as Sessions had been part of the Trump campaign. But he continued, “What makes no sense to me is all the abuse by the Department of Justice and the FBI, the unprofessional conduct, the shady behavior; nobody seems to think that’s much important. Well, that’s gonna change, I hope.”
Graham blasted the intelligence community, saying that their job, if they suspected a foreign power was targeting a political figure, was to warn that person. He pointed out that when someone was working with Senator Dianne Feinstein whom the FBI suspected of working for China, the FBI alerted Feinstein.
He commented, “That’s the way it’s supposed to work. How did it fail and break down here? Was it a ruse to get into the Trump campaign? I don’t know, but I’m gonna try to find out.”
Referring to the email-scandal of Hillary Clinton, Graham asked, “Why did Comey do what he did? Why did he take over the investigation in July, make a statement that she did a lot of bad things but not quite a crime? That did affect this election, and if the shoe were on the other foot, Republicans would have been pretty mad about that. What was the conflict that made Loretta Lynch so unable to preside over the Clinton email investigation? Was it just a tarmac meeting or was it more? I believe there was more there, and I intend to get to there.”
Graham summed up: “When it comes to the FISA warrant, the Clinton campaign, the counter-intelligence investigation, it’s pretty much been swept under the rug except by a few Republicans in the House. Those days are over.”
Video below: