Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told police officers that he didn’t understand why they didn’t open fire on rioting Donald Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol last year, according to a new book.
“You guys should have shot them all in the head,” Graham is quoted as saying, per excerpts shared by Politico on Friday. The senator, who is often a key ally to the former president, reportedly made the remarks at a meeting with law enforcement four months after the Jan. 6 insurrection in Washington.
“We gave you guys guns, and you should have used them,” Graham reportedly added. “I don’t understand why that didn’t happen.”
Michael Fanone, a former D.C. Metropolitan Police officer who was badly beaten by Trump supporters during the riot, recalled the exchange in the book “Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop’s Battle for America’s Soul,” due out Tuesday.
Fanone also recalled Graham threatening to end a meeting with the bereaved mother of a Capitol Police officer — Brian Sicknick, who died after the riot — “right now” if she continued to speak badly of Trump.
Graham has not commented on the claims.
Fanone, a one-time Trump voter, has become a fierce critic of Republican hypocrisy over the riot and GOP attempts to downplay the violence. He resigned from the police last year and is now a CNN contributor on law enforcement issues.
S0uth3y on October 8th, 2022 at 11:27 UTC »
They talk a lot different when they're in fear for their lives, don't they?
StayYou61 on October 8th, 2022 at 11:23 UTC »
And now he would be calling them all martyrs. Graham is the stereotype of a sleazy politician.
temporarycreature on October 8th, 2022 at 11:20 UTC »