Former President Donald Trump appears to have soured on one of his most ardently oleaginous supporters, South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham, after the Palmetto State Republican said pro-Trump rioters who attacked the Capitol on 6 January 2021 should be jailed and not pardoned as the twice-impeached ex-president has suggested.
Mr Trump floated the idea of pardoning accused and convicted 6 January insurrectionists on Saturday during one of his signature political rally speeches in which he vowed to “treat those people from January 6 fairly” if he regains the presidency with a successful 2024 presidential campaign.
“If I run and if I win, we will treat those people from January 6th fairly,” said the former president, adding: “And if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons because they are being treated so unfairly.”
Mr Graham, heretofore known as one of the former president’s most sycophantic boosters in the upper chamber, had rejected the idea as “inappropriate” and said he hoped 6 January rioters will “go to jail”.
But the ex-president hit back in an interview with Newsmax on Tuesday, telling host Rob Schmitt that Mr Graham was “wrong” to suggest that people who committed crimes during the Capitol riot should be punished.
“Lindsey’s a nice guy, but he’s a RINO,” Mr Trump said.
