Senator Lindsey Graham warned that Republicans could go on to charge Vice President Kamala Harris, arguing that the trial of former President Donald Trump’s removal from the Senate for provoking the Capitol riot “opened the Pandora’s box.”
Speaking to Fox News Sunday, a day after the Senate voted 57-43 to acquit the former president on a single charge of “incitement to insurrection,” the South Carolina Republican argued that the vice president’s support for a fund rescuing protesters during the summer could leave her responsible for the same punishment.
“And if you use that model, I don’t know how Kamala Harris isn’t imputed if Republicans take the House,” Graham said.
“Because he really rescued the riot police and one of the riot police went back to the streets and broke someone’s head. So we opened the Pandora’s box here and I’m sad for the country? ”
Graham was referring to Harris’ support for the Minnesota Freedom Fund, before she became President Biden’s running mate, which helped protesters set bail.
“If he is able to do so, access the @MNFreedomFund now to help post the bail for those protesting on the ground in Minnesota.” he said on Twitter in June.
But the fund, which opposed the concept of cash bail, was used to ensure the relief of several convicted violent criminals as well as protesters during the summer who were concentrating against the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers.
A Fox News report found that among the people rescued by the MFF were a suspect who shot at police, a sex offender convicted twice and a woman accused of killing a friend.
It was unclear, however, who allegedly “broke someone’s head.”
Graham also talked about the possibility of accusing Harris in an interview earlier this month with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, when he tried to dissuade Democrats from calling witnesses at Trump’s indictment trial, noting that he would extend the procedure and would involve Harris.
“If you want to chase him and you want to start yelling at witnesses and you want to drag that thing, it would be fair to play Kamala Harris tape where he rescued people from prison,” Graham said.
“What more could you do to incite future violence than pay the bail of people who broke into shops and beat up police officers,” Graham added. How is it that this does not incite future violence? Be careful what you want for my fellow Democrats, be careful what you want. “
During the trial, T rump’s legal team played a series of videos in defense of Trump showing several Democrats urging supporters to “fight,” including Harris, to defend the former president’s comments at a rally of supporters of the Capitol assault did not incite the crowd.
The Senate acquitted Trump of provoking the riot by a vote of 57 to 43, which was well below the 67 votes needed to condemn.
Graham, who was one of the Republicans who voted to vote acquitted, said the former president may have pushed for “narratives about elections that I think aren’t solid and aren’t true,” but he doesn’t think Trump’s words incite the crowd.
“The president is a handful and what happened [at the Capitol] January 6 was terrible for the country. But he is not to blame. Democrats have sat on the sidelines and watched the country burn down for a year and a half and didn’t say a damn word, and most Republicans are fed up with hypocrisy, ”Graham said.
He also said he spoke Saturday night with Trump, who assured him he wanted to fight again for Republicans to regain their majorities in the Senate and House.