Lindsey Graham Praises Joe Biden as 'Best Person' to Lead the Country in Leaked Audio
'How mad can you get at Joe Biden?'
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Lindsey Graham has been heard praising Joe Biden in newly surfaced audio that was recorded as police worked to clear the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot.
The Republican senator speculated that the events would unite Americans.
"We will actually come out of this thing stronger," Graham said, according to audio obtained by reporters Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns and aired on CNN.
"It'll take a while. People will calm down. People will [say] 'I don’t want to be associated with that.'
"This is a group within a group. What this does, it'll be a rallying effect for a while, where the country says, 'We're better than this.'"
Graham, 66, goes on to praise Biden:
"He'll be maybe the best person to have, right? I mean, how mad can you get at Joe Biden?"
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The lawmaker from South Carolina gave an impassioned speech on the floor when Congress resumed moments later, telling his colleagues to "count me out" of Trump's world.
Since then, however, he's returned to praising Trump for what he did during his administration and has even been spotted golfing with the ex-president at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
As The Daily Mail reported:
The newly released audio is discussed in an upcoming book by Martin and Burns, who write for the New York Times.
Speaking on Anderson Cooper's show Tuesday night, Martin dove into Graham's state of mind as the senator considered what had just happened.
"You can almost hear his voice, Senator Graham, trying to play out what the impact of this attack, which as we talked was still ongoing as we spoke that afternoon on the 6th," he said.
Martin said the conversation took place from a secure room in the Capitol.
Senators were in the middle of certifying the 2020 election results in favor of Joe Biden when the riot began.
"The Capitol police were still trying to clear the Capitol in those moments, Graham is thinking ahead, he is thinking about the political impact on his party and the impact on the country," he added.
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Graham seemed to think that the riot would unify the country.
"It, in fact, deepened the partisan divisions," Martin said.
"[Biden] is sort of one more partisan actor in the political scene in this tribal moment we're living through in this country."
At least 828 people have been charged for taking part in the Capitol riot, according to Insider.
Trump had claimed that the 2020 election was stolen from him after he lost the popular vote.
He continues to tell his supporters that he won.
His fans gathered near the Capitol for a rally on the morning of January 6.
The ensuing riot led to Trump being impeached for a second time.
Graham's relationship with Trump has fluctuated since before Trump took office.
The four-term senator from South Carolina called the president "uninformed" and said he would be an "absolute, utter disaster" for the party before the 2016 election.
In May 2016, Graham tweeted: "If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed.......and we will deserve it."
