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Senator Lindsey Graham has urged an “erratic” Donald Trump to move on from his false claims about the 2020 election so that January 6 won’t be his “obituary,” according to Bob Woodward’s new book.
The veteran journalist relays a series of alleged conversations between the former president and Graham, a top Trump ally, in his upcoming book War due out on October 15 and seen in advance by CNN.
According to Woodward, the South Carolina Republican advised Trump over his 2024 campaign, telling him that if he moves on from falsely claiming the 2020 election was stolen, “then January 6 won’t be your obituary.”
Unlike many Republicans, Graham has told Trump that Biden “won fair and square” in the 2020 race but Trump “doesn’t like to hear” it.
A few days after that particular conversation, Woodward writes that Trump told Graham: “I gave a speech today and I only mentioned the 2020 election twice!”
According to Woodward, this was said “as if it had shown maximum restrain.”
Graham is also quoted as saying that Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign is framed “around fear.”
“Trump is becoming more erratic,” he said. “These court cases. I think they would rattle anybody.”
One excerpt from Woodward’s book reveals that Graham gave the former president some advice on how to get reelected in November and urged him to move away from one particular kind of voter.
“You’ve got a problem with moderate women,” Graham reportedly told Trump after the midterms. “The people that think that the earth is flat and we didn’t go to the moon, you’ve got them. Let that go.”
The senator, who has previously urged Trump to distance himself from conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, also shared a glimpse of the atmosphere inside Trump’s sprawling Mar-a-Lago estate.
“Going to Mar-a-Lago is a little bit like going to North Korea,” Graham said. “Everybody stands up and claps every time Trump comes in.”
The Independent has contacted Graham for comment.
Woodward’s book also contains previously unreported details about the former president’s relationship with Vladimir Putin, including a moment at Mar-a-Lago where he told a senior aide to leave the room so they could have a “private phone call.”
“According to Trump’s aide, there have been multiple phone calls between Trump and Putin, maybe as many as seven in the period since Trump left the White House in 2021,” Woodward writes.
The Trump campaign has vehemently denied Woodward’s reporting.
“None of these made-up stories by Bob Woodward are true and are the work of a truly demented and deranged man who suffers from a debilitating case of trump derangement syndrome,” campaign communications director Steven Cheung told The Independent on Tuesday.
“Woodward is an angry, little man and is clearly upset because President Trump is successfully suing him because of the unauthorized publishing of recordings he made previously,” Cheung added.
