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Republican South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham said Wednesday night the number of “not guilty” votes in former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial “was increasing.” Graham’s comments came hours after Democratic House impeachment officials released never-before-seen graphic video footage of the violent riot that broke out on the U.S. Capitol on January 6.
“The ‘Not Guilty’ vote increases after today,” Graham wrote in a tweet Wednesday night. “I think most Republicans found the House Managers’ presentation offensive and absurd.”
“We all know what happened in the Capitol was terrible. I hope everyone involved who broke into the Capitol go to jail,” the senator added during an appearance on Fox News ‘ Hannity.
During the show, Graham and host Sean Hannity argued that past statements made by Democratic politicians in favor of racial justice and Black Lives Matter protesters during the 2020 National Uprisings Against Police Brutality were they – even incitement to riot, which Democrats have accused Trump of.
Graham called Democrats hypocrites for failing to speak out against activists who demonstrated outside her home in September 2020 and outside Susan Collins’ home in December 2017 and October 2018, comparing their actions to those insurgents.
Win McNamee / Getty
Graham also told Hannity that he was not convinced by the arguments made by House Managers about Trump’s ties to the Proud Boys, a self-proclaimed “male chauvinism” group that the FBI described as “a group of ‘far right”. Trump sadly told the group to “step back and be ready” during a 2020 presidential debate in September when asked to speak out against white supremacy.
Democrats have highlighted the role Proud Boys played during the insurgency. So far, at least seven Proud Boys have been accused of participating in the January 6 riots. But Graham criticized the alleged link. At least one Proud Boy who was arrested said he was acting under Trump’s orders.
“Managers have this idea of cockamamie, an absurd theory that Donald Trump was monitoring the Proud Boys website and other far-right sites and he and [former White House Deputy Chief of Staff] Dan Scavino knew this was coming and they cheered him on. It’s Looney Tunes, ”Graham said.
Graham also said that Democrats’ beliefs that Trump instigated insurgency with his Jan.6 speech and that the insurgency was staged weeks before it happened were contradictory.
Trump’s re-election campaign paid more than $ 2.7 million to several individuals and businesses who helped organize the “Stop the Steal” rally that preceded the violent Jan. 6 insurgency, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
But impeachment advocates for Graham, Hannity and Trump remain insensitive to Democratic attempts to link Trump’s public statements to incitement to a riot, even with the new riot video footage.
“I didn’t learn anything that I didn’t already know,” Trump’s lawyer Bruce Castor told reporters on Wednesday after seeing the new footage. “We know that a crowd has entered the Capitol and is wreaking havoc on the building. I’m waiting for them to link this to President Trump, and so far that hasn’t happened.
Newsweek has contacted Graham’s office for comment.
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