Major Trump Ally Humiliated After Secret Testimony Released
Hidden grand jury testimony has been released, exposing what several senior Republicans really think about the president.
The involvement of several Republicans, including Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, in questioning President Donald Trump’s claims of election fraud in the 2020 election has been revealed.
A New York Times article reveals grand jury testimony from several prominent Republicans who criticized the president and exposed the lengths to which he was allegedly willing to go to believe the election had been stolen.
This testimony, collected in 2022, was made public after being unsealed by Judge Scott McAfee of the Fulton County Superior Court, who presided over the case in Georgia.
The transcripts, obtained by the Times during the Georgia election interference trial, show that several influential Trump supporters, including Graham, considered his fraud allegations unfounded.
In his testimony, Graham called the president’s claims “disturbing.” As he told the grand jury: “I told him countless times that he didn’t win,” and “If you had told him that aliens came and stole the votes, he would have been more inclined to believe it.”
Instead of refuting Trump’s election fraud allegations in Arizona, Graham suggested that his defeat in that state was due to his attacks on Senator John McCain, a long-serving senator from Arizona.
Trump, who never served in the military and avoided the draft during the Vietnam War, called McCain, a Vietnam veteran and prisoner of war for six years, a “loser,” adding: “He’s not a war hero… He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”
“McCain’s influence in Arizona was real,” Graham testified. “And when you look at the suburbs of those states, you see a trend: President Trump was underperforming compared to other Republicans. I was trying to get him to understand that.”
“I’m sorry he lost,” Graham added. “But he did lose.”
In September 2023, Graham issued a statement following the release of the grand jury report recommending criminal charges against him for his role in the attempt to overturn the election results. He stated that, as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee at the time, he had “questions” about mail-in voting in Georgia, but that he ultimately voted to certify the election results for all states.
Graham has established himself as one of the president’s most ardent supporters in the Senate, even going so far as to make ill-advised jokes about Trump’s stated desire to run for a third term despite constitutional restrictions.
Trump embarrassed Graham during a media appearance earlier this month after the senator called Trump’s potential reelection “the greatest comeback in history.”
“Do you really think that? Frankly, I didn’t get that impression,” Trump retorted, prompting Graham to try to change the subject. A few days later, Graham dubbed Trump “the greatest president of all time” during an interview with Fox News.
In a statement to the Daily Beast, Graham commented on the New York Times article, saying: “It should be absolutely clear that all of these politically motivated investigations against President Trump had only one purpose: to destroy him and his friends at all costs. I have never suggested, neither then nor now, that President Trump broke the law.”
He continued: “Never forget that Fannie Willis’s political campaign in Atlanta was ready to indict me simply because I am a friend of President Trump. Regarding this matter, if I had been in their shoes, I would have hired a lawyer.”
He added: “My reasons for accepting the results of the 2020 election are not new. I made it clear then, and I stand by it now, that President Trump sincerely believed the election was stolen. We had disagreements on that point. I consider myself, then and now, one of his most ardent supporters. In my opinion, President Trump is on track to become the greatest president the United States has ever had.”
Other Republicans also testified, casting doubt on the president’s claims of election fraud. Among them, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp called Trump’s pressure on Georgia lawmakers to intervene a “futile attempt.” Former Georgia House Speaker David Ralston, meanwhile, described Trump’s plan to recruit fake electors in swing states like Georgia as “the strangest thing I’ve ever heard.”
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, a candidate for governor, testified that Trump called him and asked him to stop pressuring other state attorneys general to prevent them from joining a lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. This lawsuit sought to have the Supreme Court prevent four swing states—Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Wisconsin—from certifying their votes for Biden.
Carr told the president that, in his opinion, the lawsuit was “legally, factually, and constitutionally flawed,” but that he was not pressuring other attorneys general. He added that he told Trump, regarding his claims of election fraud, “We don’t see what you’re seeing.”
A spokesperson for Carr told the New York Times that Carr “believes the criminal charges brought against President Trump should never have been filed.” Governor Kemp did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
