Sen. Graham called Giuliani election fraud arguments ‘third grade’

• Lindsey Graham was reportedly unimpressed with Rudy Giuliani’s voter-fraud arguments. 
• He described them as “third grade”, according to a new book, ‘Peril’, by Woodward and Costa. 
• Graham ultimately voted to certify Joe Biden’s victory over Trump on January 6. 

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina described Rudy Giuliani’s arguments that the 2020 election had been tainted by mass fraud as suitable for the “third grade,” according to extracts of the new Bob Woodward book “Peril.”

The anecdote was published by The Washington Post the latest in a string of explosive revelations from “Peril.” The book, which Woodward co-wrote with Robert Costa, describes the chaotic end of the Trump administration.

According to the extract Graham, a staunch ally of President Donald Trump, met Giuliani in the White House on January 2 to see what evidence they had assembled to advance their baseless claims of fraud.

At the meeting, Giuliani discussed the election fraud evidence which he claimed could secure Trump a second term. 

The meeting was reportedly convened in the West Wing office of Mark Meadows, Donald Trump’s chief of staff. Per the extract, a data official working for Giuliani said that the level of support shown for Joe Biden in some areas was unrealistic. 

Graham, though, was reportedly unimpressed. 

“Give me some names,” Graham reportedly said. “You need to put it in writing. You need to show me the evidence.”

Several days later Giuliani’s team are said to have sent dossiers of evidence to Graham’s office, which the senator passed to Lee Holmes, the top attorney on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which Graham chairs. 

Holmes thought the evidence was unpersuasive, and was unable to even establish that some of the source material even existed. 

“Holmes found the sloppiness, the overbearing tone of certainty, and the inconsistencies disqualifying,” the authors write, according to the Post. The memos, he determined, “added up to nothing.”

Privately, Graham’s assessment was withering, according to the authors, saying the arguments were suitable for the “third grade.”

Graham was among the Republican members of Congress who’d been receptive to Trump’s voter fraud claims.

He even contacted Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in November to discuss blocking the certification of some postal votes. 

But ultimately Graham voted to certify Biden’s election January 6, in a vote that was disrupted by the Capitol riot, when Trump supporters attacked Congress. 

“Count me out. Enough is enough. I’ve tried to be helpful,” said Graham on the Senate floor, distancing himself from the campaign to overturn the election. 

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