Trump: Graham took back criticism of ‘Jan. 6 thing’ about ’40 minutes later’

Administration Trump: Graham took back criticism of ‘Jan. 6 thing’ about ’40 minutes later’ Comments: by Ryan Mancini - 07/13/26 10:24 AM ET Comments: Link copied by Ryan Mancini - 07/13/26 10:24 AM ET Comments: Link copied

NOW PLAYING

President Trump on Monday said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) took back his criticism of the “Jan. 6 thing” about “40 minutes later” after the attack on the U.S. Capitol Building.

The president called in to “Fox & Friends” to reflect on Graham, who died from an aortic dissection Saturday night. He remembered playing golf with the South Carolina lawmaker, calling him a “workaholic.”

“Now, you know he had one bad moment, that was the Jan. 6 thing when he stood up, ‘All right, now I’ve had it, that’s it, I can’t do it anymore,'” Trump said. “And then he called me about 40 minutes later, and he said, ‘Did I really say that? I can’t believe it.’ And he took it back.”

Trump added that he gave Graham “99 instead of 100. A lot of people are 100, but he had that one little moment.” He touched on the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol Building, which he said he “had nothing to do with that, by the way, just so you understand.”

“And people got terribly destroyed because of that, where they did absolutely nothing wrong, I was very proud to give everybody a pardon,” Trump said, referring to his Day 1 mass pardons to those convicted of or charged in connection with the attack on the Capitol.

In the hours after the attack, Graham said on the House floor that he and the president had had “a hell of a journey” and that he hated it “being this way.” He voiced his opposition to those who sought to block Congress from approving the 2020 Electoral College results in favor of former President Biden.

“Oh my God, I hate it … but today all I can say is count me out,” he continued. “Enough is enough. I tried to be helpful.”

Graham refused to join efforts to challenge the 2020 vote in Congress but warned days after the 2020 presidential election that Republicans should “challenge and change the U.S. election system.” He urged Trump not to concede the race to Biden, or else “there will never be another Republican president elected again.”

The South Carolina Republican later backtracked on those remarks and has been frequently aligned with the president’s policy proposals and agenda since Trump’s return to the White House last year.

Graham told CBS News’s “Face the Nation” in 2023 that Trump’s immunity defense against the 2020 presidential election results was “a legitimate claim.”

Graham’s death on Saturday sent ripples through Washington, with Trump saying that his death is a “big blow” to” the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act, the president’s legislative priority.

The foreign policy hawk was the fourth-longest-serving senator in South Carolina’s history, behind his predecessor, GOP Sen. Strom Thurmond, and Democratic Sens. Ellison Smith and Fritz Hollings. Graham is the first senator to die as an incumbent since former Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-Calif.) death in 2023 at 90. Graham was 71.

Add as preferred source on Google Tags Dianne Feinstein Donald Trump Fritz Hollings Joe Biden Lindsey Graham Strom Thurmond

Comments: Link copied