Watch GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham evoke Bill Clinton and murdered cats to defend Trump's mockery of Christine Blasey Ford

Lindsey Graham speaks at The Atlantic Festival.
(Image credit: Screenshot/Twitter/ABC News)

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is a wee bit unhappy with one little thing President Trump did, and he has some very gentle words to prove it.

On Tuesday night, Trump devoted a portion of his Mississippi rally to mocking Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who says Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh assaulted her when they were in high school. Conservatives quickly and harshly rebuked Trump's words, but in his Wednesday appearance at The Atlantic Festival, Graham merely said he "didn't particularly like" the comments.

Trump's belittling insistence that Ford couldn't remember details of her alleged assault was a "factual rendition," Graham said at the festival. "I would tell him to knock it off," Graham continued, but then added that "it can be worse. You can actually kill somebody's cat and puncture their tires to get them to shut up."

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Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, who was interviewing Graham, voiced everyone's thoughts: "I don't even know what that means." Graham sassily clarified that it was a reference to Kathleen Willey, who in 1998 alleged former President Bill Clinton sexually assaulted her, and that someone slashed her tires and killed her cat in an attempt to keep her quiet.

With his compulsory flashback taken care of, Graham returned to his passionate defense of Kavanaugh — and got a few boos from the audience. Watch the whole moment below. Kathryn Krawczyk

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.