Trump says Graham is ‘publicity seeking,’ told a ‘disgusting lie’
WASHINGTON — Accusing Sen. Lindsey Graham of a “disgusting lie,” Donald Trump warned the South Carolina Republican voters will punish him for criticizing the president’s response to the racially tinged violence in Charlottesville, Va.
Graham in a Wednesday statement said Trump, during an impromptu news conference Tuesday, “took a step backward by again suggesting there is moral equivalency between the white supremacist, neo-Nazis and KKK members who attended the Charlottesville rally and people like Ms. (Heather) Heyer,” referring to the young woman killed in a car attack by a Nazi sympathizer.
Trump hit back on Twitter on Thursday morning, calling the senator “Publicity seeking Lindsey Graham” and saying Graham “falsely stated” Trump said there is a moral equivalency between groups like the Klu Klux Klan, neo-Nazis and white supremacists on one side and counterprotesters like Heyer on the other.
He then harkened back to the 2016 GOP presidential primary, in which he cruised to the party’s nomination while Graham never gained any traction. Graham “just can’t forget his election trouncing,” Trump wrote, then writing what sounded like a threat: “The people of South Carolina will remember!”
Also Thursday, Trump appeared Thursday to endorse Sen. Jeff Flake’s primary opponent, lashing out at the Arizona Republican senator who has become one of his most vocal critics.
The president, de facto leader of the Republican Party, tweeted he believes it is “great to see” Dr. Kelli Ward, a former state senator, is running to unseat Flake. He wrote that Flake — who recently wrote a book on conservatism that was critical of Trump — is “WEAK on borders, crime and a non-factor in Senate. He’s toxic!”