South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham will call Monday for the removal of the confederate flag from state grounds, a source familiar with the decision told CNN.
Graham, a 2016 presidential candidate, will make his announcement during a press conference with South Carolina’s Republican governor, Nikki Haley, at 4 p.m. Monday.
He will call for the flag to come down and be put in a museum.
Graham has been quietly urging his fellow elected representatives inside South Carolina over the past few days to make this move. As the sole white senator, he felt that it was in some ways easier – and more symbolic – for him to take the lead than his junior senator Tim scott , who is African American , or Governor Nikki Haley , who is of Indian descent, according to a source familiar with Graham’s thinking.