Newly-released audio shows Sen. Lindsey Graham telling a New York Times reporter that Joe Biden is “maybe the best person to have” and that he will unify the nation after the protest on January 6.
New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns gave the audio to CNN to promote their new book, This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America’s Future.
The call reportedly took place as Capitol police were still trying to clear out the building.
“We will actually come out of this thing stronger. Moments like this reset. 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 told Martin.
Martin responded, asking, “and Biden will be better, right?”
“Totally, he’ll be maybe the best person to have, right? I mean, how mad can you get at Joe Biden?” Graham replied.
In a second recording, Graham criticized Trump saying, “He plays the TV game and he went too far here,” Graham said. “That rally didn’t help, talking about primarying Liz (Cheney.) He created a sense of revenge.”
The book claims that Graham threatened to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office during the protest.