Democrats bash Lindsey Graham over claims he pressured Georgia to discard ballots: 'Morally reprehensible'
By: Katie Shepherd (MSN)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Democrats bash Lindsey Graham over claims he pressured Georgia to discard ballots: 'Morally reprehensible'
Democrats on Monday rushed to condemn Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) after Georgia's Republican secretary of state said he had pressured him to find ways to throw out mail-in ballots that helped swing the state in President-elect Joe Biden's favor.
"This is insane and illegal," Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) said in a tweet responding to a Washington Post report on Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger's allegations.
Ga. secretary of state says fellow Republicans are pressuring him to find ways to exclude ballots
Raffensperger said he was stunned Friday when the South Carolina senator called him and asked several questions about signature matching, including whether the state's top election official could toss all of the mail-in ballots in counties with high rates of mismatched signatures. Graham, who serves as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, dismissed the suggestion that he had acted inappropriately.
"That's just ridiculous," Graham told the Hill on Monday night. "If [Raffensperger] feels threatened by that conversation, he's got a problem. I actually thought it was a good conversation."
But the senator's defense held little water with Raffensperger, who doubled down on his claims in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer Monday. "It was just an implication of, 'Look hard and see how many ballots you could throw out,' " he said.
Graham's Democratic colleagues in Congress similarly did not accept his claims, calling his alleged actions "shameful," "despicable" and "a major scandal." Some called for the senator to resign. Others suggested the alleged pressure to toss legal ballots could be a crime.
"Senator Graham pressuring the Ga. SoS to throw out legally cast ballots is morally reprehensible, and possibly a federal crime," Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.) said in a tweet. "If true, he should resign from the Senate immediately."
At least one Democratic senator also said he was concerned by Raffensperger's account of the phone call.
"Senate Republicans shouldn't be applying pressure on election officials to overturn the will of the people," Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said in a tweet Monday. "This is deeply troubling and unacceptable. The voters chose @JoeBiden. This was a free and fair election. It's way past time for all of us to accept that and move on."
Other members of Congress pointed out perceived hypocrisy in the allegation that a sitting Republican had attempted to influence the election results after President Trump and his allies have spent weeks promoting unfounded claims of fraud.
"While Republicans publicly scream 'voter fraud' without evidence, this is what the Chair of the @senjudiciary is doing in private," Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) said in a tweet Monday. "Who's the fraud?"
Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) praised Raffensperger for airing Graham's alleged comments, noting the secretary of state is administering a recount under pressure from his own party and while receiving death threats.
"I commend #Georgia Sec. of State Brad Raffensperger for doing his job & defending #democracy," Cohen said in a tweet. "A hero has been hard to find. Throughout this process he has received death threats & other vitriol."
Some government ethics experts also weighed in on the allegations. Walter M. Shaub Jr., who was director of the Office of Government Ethics until 2017, said even Graham's version of the phone conversation raised red flags.
"Why is the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee calling Georgia's Secretary of State to discuss mechanics of an ongoing ballot count?" he said in a tweet Monday. "Such a call would be implicitly coercive in the best case, even without Graham's alleged suggestion about throwing out lawful votes."
Meanwhile, most Republicans remained silent on the allegations Monday night. Among the few who did mention the Georgia election, some attacked Raffensperger again.
Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.) questioned whether more mail-in ballots should have been disqualified and called for "accountability" for the secretary of state on Monday. His sentiments echoed calls from other Georgia Republicans who have demanded Raffensperger resign after the state flipped for Biden in the presidential race and two Senate races ended with runoff elections set for January.
Raffensperger has said he will not resign, nor will he be influenced by those in his party who are not happy with the election results.
"I'm going to probably be disappointed because I was rooting for the Republicans to win, obviously," Raffensperger said Monday on CNN. "But I have a process, I have a law that I follow. Integrity, in this office, matters."
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Why in the hell is Graham calling state officials about election results?
I don't believe for one minute he is innocent in what he wanted.
I wonder what trumpski has on the senate sissy from SC, I mean besides the obvious ...
"I actually thought it was a good conversation"
Reminds me of the supposed "perfect call" when Trump tried to extort the Ukrainian President into manufacturing dirt on Biden.
It's clear from the bullshit Republicans are pulling in refusing to accept he election results that they will do pretty much anything for a win. They don't give a shit about the law or ethics, they just want to stay in power and are acting like a cornered rabid animal. Republicans and their dear Leader Trump are the biggest threat to democracy and the constitution America has ever faced, even worse than Russia during the cold war or their current criminal attacks on American elections.
It would be nice if this fiasco helped the two Democrats to win the senate races, although that is probably too much to expect.
Remember the good old days, when Trump gave out Lindsey’s cell phone number on tv for calling him a xenophobic race baiting biggot, then Lindsey aired funny commercials showing himself destroying his cell phone? How does this sleazebag live with himself?
What irony, a Republican Sec of State points the finger at Graham for trying to get him to toss legal ballots.
All the while Trump is suing states because the ''ELECTION WAS STOLEN''.
You can't make this shit up.
How about Trump returning the money he STOLE from the election funds (2016 and 2020). Voters could have given Miss Graham a permanent time out but decided to screw the pooch (us) instead.
Politicians often cannot just let the process play itself out. They need to try to monitor and control everything. In their defense, I suppose that's because they know themselves and their colleagues to be untrustworthy schemers who probably need watching.
You actually think he was just trying to monitor the situation?
Just? I don't know what you mean by that, but I was not trying to minimize anything.
I think he's a Nosy Nelly sticking his nose in where it doesn't belong
Corrupt people assume everyone around them is just as corrupt as they are.