Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Monday that former President Trump’s fate should be left up to voters instead of “liberal jurisdictions trying to put the man in jail.”
Graham said on Fox News’s “Jesse Watters Primetime” that the numerous legal battles Trump is facing are “very unfair,” adding that they will do “a lot of damage to the presidency” over time. The senator’s comments come as a Georgia grand jury hearing evidence about Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election returned an indictment Monday night.
“I know that Fulton County is the most liberal County I think in all of Georgia. The DA there is a Democrat,” he said. “I know that they’re trying to use a [Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations] statute. I don’t know exactly what they’re gonna come out with. But I know this: Between Manhattan and Fulton County and D.C. — the most liberal jurisdictions in the country — it’s very unfair to President Trump.”
He also questioned why a statewide official was not investigating the case instead of a county prosecutor.
“Are we gonna let county prosecutors start prosecuting the President of the United States, the former President of the United States? You open up Pandora’s box to the presidency,” he said. “This whole exercise of allowing a county prosecutor to go after former president of the United States will do a lot of damage to the presidency itself over time. To my Democratic friends, be careful what you wish for.”
He also said that Trump’s fate should be left up to voters, warning that potential charges against the former president may set a “bad precedent.”
“The American people can decide whether they want him to be president or not,” he said. “This should be decided at the ballot box, not a bunch of liberal jurisdictions trying to put the man in jail.”
“They’re weaponizing the law in this country,” he continued. “They’re trying to take Donald Trump down. And this is setting a bad precedent. And what I fear, is that you’re changing the way the game is played in America. And there’s no going back. We’re in for a very hard time if this becomes the norm.”