Sen. Lindsey Graham, a frequent critic of President Donald Trump, said Thursday that many of the President’s actions are troubling — but that does not make them criminal.
The South Carolina Republican told CBS’s Gayle King that it was inappropriate for Trump to tell James Comey that he needed his loyalty over dinner, as the former FBI director alleged in testimony released Wednesday.
“Half of what Trump does is not OK,” he said Thursday on “This Morning.” “If you are trying to convict him for being a bull in a China shop, crude and rude, you’d win.”
“A lot of this stuff troubles me, but it is not a crime,” Graham added.
Graham said Wednesday that Comey’s opening statement for his hearing at the Senate intelligence committee shows “there is no obstruction of justice case” against Trump.
“What prosecutor in their right mind would allow their star witness to go out before the Senate panel of 20 senators and get beat up if he really believed he had a case?” he asked in an interview with Fox News. “This is the best evidence yet that in the mind of the special counsel, there is no obstruction of justice case to be made against President Trump. All in all, it’s a pretty good day for President Trump.”
Despite Graham’s optimism, Comey’s statement is sure to spark many questions. The ousted FBI director wrote that Trump asked him to pledge his loyalty. Comey also alleges that the President asked him to stop investigating ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn and to publicly declare that Trump was not under investigation.
“Comey has now told us all that the President is not under investigation as an individual for colluding with Russia,” Graham said. “President Trump is not a target or subject to a criminal investigation or counterintelligence investigation regarding colluding with the Russians.”