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."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
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
-
‘The problem isn’t solved by simply swapping out the faces on screen’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
3 officers killed in Pennsylvania shootingSpeed Read Police did not share the identities of the officers or the slain suspect, nor the motive or the focus of the still-active investigation
-
Fed cuts interest rates a quarter pointSpeed Read ‘The cut suggests a broader shift toward concern about cracks forming in the job market’
-
House posts lewd Epstein note attributed to TrumpSpeed Read The estate of Jeffrey Epstein turned over the infamous 2003 birthday note from President Donald Trump
-
Supreme Court allows 'roving' race-tied ICE raidsSpeed Read The court paused a federal judge's order barring agents from detaining suspected undocumented immigrants in LA based on race
-
South Korea to fetch workers detained in Georgia raidSpeed Read More than 300 South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant will be released
-
DC sues Trump to end Guard 'occupation'Speed Read D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb argues that the unsolicited military presence violates the law
-
RFK Jr. faces bipartisan heat in Senate hearingSpeed Read The health secretary defended his leadership amid CDC turmoil and deflected questions about the restricted availability of vaccines
-
White House defends boat strike as legal doubts mountSpeed Read Experts say there was no legal justification for killing 11 alleged drug-traffickers
-
Epstein accusers urge full file release, hint at own listspeed read A rally was organized by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, who are hoping to force a vote on their Epstein Files Transparency Act
-
Court hands Harvard a win in Trump funding battleSpeed Read The Trump administration was ordered to restore Harvard's $2 billion in research grants
