/https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5ffde5a0c00e0fa82dff5207/0x0.jpg?cropX1=159&cropX2=6133&cropY1=211&cropY2=3737 "Lindsey Graham Travels With Trump To Texas A Week After Renouncing Him")
Lindsey Graham Travels With Trump To Texas A Week After Renouncing Him
Topline
Just one week after declaring he is “out” with President Donald Trump over his efforts to overturn the election, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) flew with the president on Air Force One for a trip to Alamo, Texas on Tuesday.
DILLARD, GA – DECEMBER 31: Republican Senator Lindsey Graham speaks at a Win Georgia rally on … [+]
Key Facts
“Trump and I, we’ve had a hell of a journey. I hate it to end this way,” Graham, typically one of Trump’s closest allies in the Senate, said in a speech announcing his vote to affirm President-elect Joe Biden’s win during a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6.
Graham’s speech was delivered in the aftermath of a brutal assault on the U.S. Capitol by Trump’s supporters attempting to overturn the election, which forced lawmakers to pause the counting of electoral votes and go into lockdown.
Graham said he “prayed” Biden would lose but doesn’t buy Trump’s claims of a stolen election, declaring, “All I can say is count me out. Enough is enough… We’ve got to end it.”
But Graham hasn’t entirely abandoned his support of Trump: he has spoken out against efforts by Democrats to remove Trump from office in the wake of the Capitol attack.
Forbes has reached out to the White House and Graham’s office for comment.
Crucial Quote
“I don’t support invoking the 25th Amendment now. If something else happens, all options would be on the table,” Graham said of efforts to remove Trump.
Chief Critic
“I think poor Lindsey really is sort of bereft of friends at this point. He found out that the Trump people will turn on you, that Donald Trump, of course, will turn on you. Because he turns on everybody,” former Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.) said in an MSNBC appearance. “I think Lindsey should take that old advice: ‘if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.’”
Tangent
Trump and Graham are joined on the trip – meant to mark the completion of 400 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border wall – by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, White House adviser Brooke Rollins and U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan, according to Wall Street Journal reporter Gordon Lubold.