Never accused of being too quick to step in and defend a friend, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) confessed today he had told Sen. John McCain to give the FBI the dossier on the Trump campaign’s alleged ties to Russia, a revelation that comes after Trump repeatedly assailed the late American hero over the issue.
Last week, Trump accused McCain of handing over the document “for very evil purposes.”
McCain died of brain cancer in August.
Graham, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told reporters today McCain showed him the dossier when he received it in late 2016.
“And I told him the only thing I knew to do with it, it could be a bunch of garbage, it could be true, who knows? Turn it over to somebody whose job it is to find these things out, and John McCain acted appropriately,” Graham said.
Graham said he “was very direct” with Trump on the issue and told the president McCain “deserves better” than Trump’s recent public attacks on him.
The infamous dossier, compiled for Democrats by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, contains a number of unverified claims about Trump’s alleged Russia connections.
Earlier this month, Trump falsely claimed in a tweet that McCain had “sent the Fake Dossier to the FBI and Media hoping to have it printed BEFORE the Election.”
So it was indeed (just proven in court papers) “last in his class” (Annapolis) John McCain that sent the Fake Dossier to the FBI and Media hoping to have it printed BEFORE the Election. He & the Dems, working together, failed (as usual). Even the Fake News refused this garbage!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2019
In truth, McCain was not made aware of the Steele dossier until Nov. 18, 2016 — after Trump had won the election. And while McCain himself gave the dossier to the FBI, there is no evidence he gave it to the media.
Former McCain aide David Kramer, a Russia expert, has testified that he gave the dossier to the media in December 2016.
Graham had already begun to shift his allegiance from longtime friend McCain to Trump, whom he often vilified in 2016, prior to the 2008 GOP presidential nominees death last August.
He has been accused of betraying the McCain families trust by inviting members of the Trump family to his funeral without their knowledge.