GA prosecutors try to ‘make challenging an election a crime’ just for Trump, SC’s Graham says

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, said Georgia is “criminalizing contesting an election,” in reaction to former President Donald Trump being indicted for a fourth time in recent months, this time in connection to efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state.

“He’s being prosecuted in a way to make challenging an election a crime just for him,” Graham said in an interview on Fox News’ “Hannity” show Wednesday. “You can claim you were cheated if you’re a Democrat. If you claim you were cheated as a Republican, they’re going to try to put you in jail.”

Graham was subpoenaed in 2022 as part of the Georgia investigation but was not named in the Georgia indictment.

After the 2020 election, in which Trump lost to now-President Joe Biden, Graham called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger twice and asked him if there was a way to throw out that state’s mail-in ballots, which favored Biden, according to the subpoena, first reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution after the election.

This all occurred after Biden won Georgia by fewer than 12,000 votes. Soon after results were out, Trump declared the election was stolen and pressured state officials to block Biden’s win from being certified. He also urged Georgia lawmakers to summon a special session and filed lawsuits as well as presented bogus claims to the Georgia House and Senate.

Since then, Trump has continued to claim the election was stolen. In early 2021, Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis launched an investigation into Trump’s efforts.

“This is very dangerous what they’re doing for our country,” Graham said Wednesday on Fox.

Graham and Trump have had a bit of a rocky relationship. Graham ran against Trump in the 2016 election, and he called him various things, including a,“race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot.” He also criticized Trump after the 2020 election and said Trump was losing his sense of reality.

However, Graham changed tune and started to support his former ally again, but Trump’s fan base has been hesitant to let him into their good graces. Graham was roundly booed at Trump’s rally in Pickens, S.C., on July 1.

Since, Graham has been defending and cheering on Trump.

“The way you fix this is to elect a Republican president, and it will be Donald Trump as the nominee,” Graham saidWednesday. “If they’re trying to give Donald Trump the nomination, they’re doing a hell of a good job.”