During this week’s broadcast of FNC’s “Sunday Night in America,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) accused former Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith of breaking the law during his investigation of the Capitol Hill January 6, 2021 incident.
Graham said that by looking at phone records of U.S. Senators, he broke the law and should be held accountable.
“All right, your phone records were accessed by Special Counsel Jack Smith,” host Trey Gowdy said. “I’ve got to believe the Senate is going to bring Merrick Garland, Chris Wray and Jack Smith in, because I want them to testify on what crime exactly they were investigating, what factual predicate existed to access your call records? I mean, you talk to a lot of important people on the phone. Who is Jack Smith to analyze who you talk to and for how long?”
“Well, this is a really important moment in our constitutional democracy,” Graham said. “In September 2023, thirty months after January 6, apparently, Jack Smith, through FBI agents, went to the phone company that I use and seven other senators to monitor who we called, where we were located, and how long we talked to them. Now, in January 2021, I was the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee trying to find out whether to certify the election and what to investigate, if anything. So the idea that the Executive Branch would try to monitor my phone calls, doing my job as a United States Senator obliterate separation of powers. Now, this idea about people shouldn’t be looking at Comey, that’s crazy. Five years ago, I went on television right after he testified. I don’t believe him when he says he doesn’t remember the Intel Community told him that they had evidence that Hillary Clinton was trying to cook this up, to suggest that Trump was an agent of Russia, that it was coming from the Clinton campaign.”
He continued, “And we all know the Steele dossier was a piece of garbage, and he said, Comey, if I knew then what I know now, I’d never used it. Get a warrant against Carter Page. I believe he did know them what he did now. So I’m doing my job. These other senators were doing their job. I’m going to do everything under my power find out what happened, and if it takes a lawsuit to prevent this in the future, I will bring it. It’s a chilling moment when a rogue Special Counsel who is politicized to the core, was trying to find out who I was calling and why I was calling them as a sitting United States Senator doing my job. We’re not going to let this go.”
“And as for Jack Smith, he tried to release his brief accusing Trump of a crime 10 days before the election, violating every protocol of the Department of Justice,” Graham added. “His investigation, I think, was political. Within three days of Trump announcing, I’m running for President in 2022 for the 2024 cycle, within three days, charges were brought, and within eight months, he was charged with 91 felony counts in four jurisdictions after he said, I’m running for president. This, in my view, was an effort to destroy his chances to get elected in 2024, and when Jack Smith was looking at my phone records and that of other senators, I think he broke the law, and I think he needs to be held accountable and I think those who brought this about need to pay and pay big.”
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