West News Wire: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) said on Sunday that prosecuting former President Donald Trump for handling classified information would result in “riots in the streets,” particularly after the investigation into his former rival Hillary Clinton prior to the 2016 election ended without an indictment.
“Most Republicans, like myself, think there is no law when it comes to Trump. Graham told host Trey Gowdy, the former South Carolina congressman who oversaw the House inquiry into Clinton’s use of a personal email server for official business a probe in which she was ultimately cleared that “it’s all about getting him.
Graham suggested that if the targeting of Trump progresses to the point where the former president is sued, there may be a backlash.
“If there’s a prosecution of Donald Trump for mishandling classified information, after the Clinton debacle there’ll be riots in the streets.”
The senator decried what he called the “double standard” against the former president, who is expected to announce a 2024 comeback candidacy in the near future, arguing that first Clinton and then wayward Biden scion Hunter Biden were protected by the FBI.
Not only did the agency refuse to prosecute Clinton, it has also been accused of flexing its muscles to prevent the “laptop from hell” story from spreading on social media. Republican senators have accused the FBI of scheming to “downplay” information on Biden’s laptop for the purpose of shutting down investigations relating to potential criminal activity and labeling it “disinformation.”
Meanwhile, he said, the affidavit used to justify the nighttime FBI raid on Trump’s home Mar-a-Lago earlier this month “falls short of any meaningful transparency.”
The 38-page affidavit that was used to obtain the search warrant for the Florida country club revealed agents suspected that there could be “evidence of obstruction” in the boxes of classified documents the former president took with him when he left the White House. However, agents were aware that Trump had the classified files since at least February.
Graham’s political opponents took his words as a call for violence rather than a prediction if Trump were to be prosecuted. Former White House ethics chief Richard Painter even called for him to be “expelled from the Senate” for “inciting January 6 all over again,” while MSNBC host Joe Scarborough accused the senator of simultaneously fear mongering about, and being “fine” with, riots, so long as they were conducted by fellow Republicans.
