Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, South Carolina, said Wednesday night that the number of “innocent” votes in the indictment of former President Donald Trump is “growing.” Graham’s comments come hours after Democratic House indictment graphic designers had never before seen video footage of the violent riot that erupted on Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol.
“The ‘Not Guilty’ vote is increasing after today,” Graham wrote in a Wednesday night tweet. “I think most Republicans found the presentation by the House executives offensive and absurd.”
“We know everyone who happened in the Capitol was horrible. I hope everyone who broke into the Capitol goes to jail,” the senator said in an appearance on Fox News. Hannity.
During the show, Graham and host Sean Hannity argued that past statements by Democratic politicians in support of racial justice and Black Lives Matter protesters during the nationwide uprising by 2020 against police brutality were themselves incitement to riot, exactly what Democrats Trump accused of it.
Graham calls the Democrats hypocrites because they did not speak out against activists who protested outside his home in September 2020, and outside Susan Collins’ home in December 2017 and October 2018, comparing their actions to those of the insurgents.
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Graham also told Hannity that he remained unconvincing by arguments made by House Managers over Trump’s ties to the Proud Boys, a self-described ‘male chauvinist’ group that the FBI described as ‘an extremist right-wing group’. Trump infamously ordered the group to “stand back and assist” during a presidential debate in 2020 when asked to denounce white supremacy.
Democrats stressed the role Proud Boys played during the uprising. At least seven Proud Boys have so far been charged with participating in the January 6 riots. But Graham criticized the alleged connection. At least one Proud boy who has been arrested has said he is acting on Trump’s orders.
“The executives have this cockamami idea, an absurd theory that Donald Trump is monitoring the Proud Boys website and other far-right websites, and he and [former White House Deputy Chief of Staff] Dan Scavino knew this was going to happen, and they encouraged it. This is Looney Tunes, ” Graham said.
Graham also said Democrats’ beliefs that Trump incited the uprising with his January 6 speech and that the uprising was organized for weeks before it took place were contradictory.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Trump’s re-election campaign paid more than $ 2.7 million to various individuals and businesses that helped organize the “Stop the Steal” march that preceded the January 6 violent uprising.
But Graham, Hannity and Trump’s prosecutors remain unaffected by Democratic efforts to link Trump’s public statements to inciting riots, even with the new video footage of the riots.
“I learned nothing I did not know yet,” Trump lawyer Bruce Castor told reporters on Wednesday after seeing the new footage. “We know that a mob has violated the Capitol and wreaked havoc in the building. I’m waiting for them to connect it with President Trump, and so far that has not happened.”
Newsweek Graham’s office contacted for comment.