Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham admits he doesn’t always think President Donald Trump is telling the truth, and he’s OK with it.
Graham told Fox News’ Neal Cavuto on Friday that he doesn’t always believe the president but says that’s because Trump is having to deal with political fallout.
“[Trump] is always under siege. He is saying this one minute and that the next. It’s what he does that matters,” the Republican from South Carolina responded.
Graham also compared the president’s lies about whether or not he paid to keep women silent about alleged affairs to the one President Bill Clinton told about not having “sexual relations” with intern Monica Lewinsky in the White House.
“I voted against that article of impeachment because I think most people, blindsided, would lie to protect their family,” Graham added. “Lying about sex wasn’t enough then for me, and it’s not enough now.”
He added:
“He is like every other person. Bill Clinton lied about having sexual relationships with that woman. I voted against that article of impeachment because I think most people would lie to protect their family.”
Graham claims he was the one Republican to vote against that article of impeachment because he thought “the average person in that circumstance would be compelled to lie.”
He added:
“Did Trump do some of this? I don’t know, but I think I would at least understand it. Lying about sex wasn’t enough for me then and it’s not enough now.”
But back in 1999, when Clinton was impeached and Graham was a member of the House of Representatives, Graham didn’t think a conviction or crime was needed for impeachment.
“You don’t have to be convicted of a crime to lose your job in this constitutional Republic,” Graham said in a 1999 clip posted on Twitter by MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell.
Graham said a president could get the boot if Congress decided “your conduct as a public official is clearly out of bounds”:
“Impeachment is not about punishment. Impeachment is about cleansing the office. Impeachment is about restoring honor and integrity to the office.”
As the Daily Beast noted, Graham now feels differently about a president “lying about sex” or allegedly defrauding voters to help put himself in office.
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