you don't need lindsay graham saying we're coming after iran. do you hold former president trump for that? he's leading that charge. >> i think it should be transparent. you know, president trump -- >> do you hold him responsible for that? >> no. every member of congress will vote. here's what will happen. we get an aid package to the house the component will pass, defeating russia is in our national security interest. we spent less than 5% of our military budget. they have destroyed 50% of the russian combat capabilities of the ukrainians. keeping ukrainians in the fight deters war and will stop. he must be defeated before we get a war in nato. to the biden administration, i will work with you to bring peace between saudi and israel, but you will have to up your game when it comes to iran and do it now. >> all right. senator lindsay graham, we'll leave it there. thank you so much. good to see you. we appreciate it. when we come back, the house of representatives as we discussed is still without a leader and all legislative action is froze own t

sullivan, thank you very much. >> thanks for having me. >> and when we come back, republican senator lindsay graham joins me next. xt or linds graham joins me next. from chrome to duckduckgo. duckduckgo is a browser you download to your mobile and desktop devices. unlike chrome, the duckduckgo browser has privacy built-in. it comes with a private alternative to google search, which doesn■t spy on your searches, and it blocks cookies and creepy ads. and there's no catch. it's free. we make money from ads, but they don't follow you around. join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on mobile and desktop today. >>> and welcome back. joining me now is republican senator lindsay graham of south carolina. senator, welcome back to "meet the press". >> thank you. >> so you've just gotten off of the phone with u.s. and saudi israeli officials. what can you tell us? >> i will be going to saudi arabia and israel in the coming days with a group of senators to drive the peace and normalization as saudi arabia and israel continues. israel there is a desire by both parties to

this is very confusing for people writing this that lindsay graham is writing our military policy. maybe that's a good thing. but your thoughts on that. >> i think we're doing a lot of showing, a lot of telling and not showing. usually israel and the united states are good at show instead of tell. in other words, we don't want to just have rhetoric. we don't want to just say, we're gonna beat you if you do that. you are hearing that out of the israelis and americans. how about we actually respond when our bases are attacked? how about we snap back the security council resolution to restore the embargo the president allowed to expire last week? how about you stop the billions of dollars from flowing to tehran? i don't want to keep talking about conflict in military. i want to restore deterrence. >> laura: nathan, meanwhile we have the hostage negotiations which again i'm going to get into this in the angle in a little bit. to me, again, we seem like back benchers. when we really either should be really involved and it should be scary to the other side or we should let israel do what

and this has been said by lindsay graham has been said by uh, joseph lieberman, former vice presidential candidates. i didn't even know lieberman was still alive and to leave the notes. i didn't know that. okay. i thought i thought that we moved on to greener pastures. okay. yeah. me too. but, but that's the iran is there for a legitimate target, because the, when it comes to ukraine, they don't say that they, the nato powers are legitimate targets for essentially bank rolling and bolting in ami um the ukraine. right. what would when auto body to the conflict? so again, it's an ellipse, the inconsistency. but the problem is if we stop escalating as well, and this is this, the, the issue that one wants to talk about is that is what your husband usually weapons in this room. i'm like, anyone else is ready to use the, i mean, we know how ruthless is realistic so if so, if it is indeed it's rose destiny to be involved in a multi front wall, that it is in danger of losing as well. we would use use a weapon so, and i don't think is any doubt about that. so it's a, it's a very dangerous situati

a proxy poll says iran must be bones, and this has been said by lindsay graham is by said by uh, joseph lieberman, former vice presidential candidates. i didn't even know lieberman was still alive and to leave the house that i didn't know that. okay, i thought i thought that we moved on to greener pastures. okay. yeah, so lead me to, but, but that's it. but, but why does it all the iran is therefore a legitimate target? because the, when it comes to ukraine, they don't say that they, the nato powers are legitimate targets for essentially bank rolling into the bolting and arming um, the ukraine, which went out of pocket to the counseling. so again, it's an ellipse, the inconsistency. but the problem is our way, if we stop escalating as well, and this is this, the, the issue that one wants to talk about is that is why has nuclear weapons in this room, unlike anyone else is ready to use the, i mean, we know our roof was israel, it so if so if it is indeed of these rows, destiny to be involved in a multi front wall, that is in danger of losing as well. we would use use a weapon. so, and i d

hamas to get the hostages back and make sure this doesn't happen again, but if you listen to what lindsay grahamhis seems to be moving into a much wider campaign and given the complexity of the situation in the middle east, is that the wa for america to be leaning right now? >> here is what we should do an i believe this with every bit o my soul, we should go back to the policies that were working. president trump right through u all the fallacies and pulled th salt of the flood. he did that at a time when we began to exert immense pressure on the irani and regime. the pallets of cash that biden that obama through sent over we did this around the world an brought it ran almost to its knees. during the trumpet ministration they were going broke. we need to snap back every sanction they can be put in place. iran is the river of terror tha flows through the region and they are supporting these proxies by hamas that are creating so much damage. >> and want. >> your reaction to a story about a former biden administration rob malley, the new york post broke this story with the former state departmen o

lindsay graham cannot level the place.se are meaningless slogans until you have a vision of what we are doing and why. it's imperative free speech isn't for the moments when it's easy. it's for moments like these. i was alive then, maybe you were not born yet, likely, the aftermath of 9/11 there was a cultural censorship in this country. shut up, sit down, do what you're told, follow the plan. that's how you got to afghanistan and iraq. now i was in high school then and i'm not now. as your next president i will make sure that we don't make the same mistakes again. i want to keep going until they drag me out of here. >> one of the biggest problems that we have is the control the pharmaceutical companies have over our government and the media so i would like to know what your plan is to get that out of control of our government and our media. one of the worst things we ever did was to allow them to put commercials on. >> what's your name? melissa. thanks. i get this question a lot and it's good because it gets to the heart

about the push for a cease-fire between israel and palestinian, and that's something that senator lindsay grahampoke to specifically. i took note of it when he said as long as hamas is a threat there should be no cease-fire. that's a statement and also something he got the two top administration officials to agree to amid pressure to the contrary, josÉ. >> ali vitali on capitol hill. thank you very much. >>> now to the latest from the israel-hamas war this morning. plumes of smoke hang over the gaza skyline as israel continues to pound the region. this has netanyahu rejects calls for a cease-fire and calls the conflict a call for israel's survival. we are learning devastating new details about one of the lives lost during the hamas attack on israelis last month. >> a chilling reminder of the terror attack, and the 23-year-old last seen in this video being carried by hamas terrorists has been found dead, and she was beheaded. her mom saying this is not an act of war, it's just terror, cruel and brutal. she was more than one of the 150 israelis taken by hamas. >> israelis fleeing from the music fe

senator lindsay graham saying he's the right guy at the right time. >> yeah. kevin mccarthy has the support of the overwhelming majority of his republican conference, but because of this narrow majority it potentially could only take a few republicans to oust him as speaker. if all democrats are also behind that effort, but that is really the big question in washington going forward this week is what does hakeem jefferies, the democratic leader do? because like i was saying before, democrats don't really trust kevin mccarthy right now. they don't like that he launched an impeachment inquiry into president biden, but at the same time they also don't want to throw the house into chaos. again, we have this funding deadline coming up for 45 days and if they were to oust the speaker it's very unclear who, if anyone, they would be able to elect. if you remember, it took 15 rounds of votes in january just to elect kevin mccarthy and at this point there's no clear alternative candidate who can get to 18 and the hard liners are rallying around, so it is this big questi

and that's the, the event jellicoe christian design is lindsay graham and others who believe that any optic and viruses perhaps quite a good thing because it suggests the 2nd coming of jesus christ, the, the rap. sure. and once we get through the violence means that his, his arrival may be imminent. and then once he does arrive, then of course he will, he will send all the jews to hell who don't convert. it is quite, quite a curious alliance but, but a very significant one on the last a good chunk of congress. and we have this in fox news while our general public and 4th thinks this a great deal. christy van jellicoe support around the country. we see that reflect that an embrace, evangelical preachers, who are quite significant, and the democrats, democrats, they're perhaps new taken all the money in the get on centering support for as well . that seems to be more based around the both be the opportunity and the threats. that's the is really low be pose. and at the same time, we have this announcement about more hardware and more troops. where is that going succeed the more troops po

they included the senior republican senator lindsay graham. in israel, we stand with you without apology and your people. i come here because i love israel. i do not hate palestinians, i hate hamas. we are here today to give israel what they need to do the job of destroying hamas. we are here today to tell iran, we are watching you. if this war grows, it is coming to your back yard. there won't be two fronts, there will be three. there is an effort to unleash hezbollah on the jewish state to destroy it, my attention will be to tehran. these innocent hostages get slaughtered, i hold you iran accountable because you could stop it if you chose to. i come here to let israel know that america will be with you. i come here to let the arab world no, let's make peace if we can. destroying hamas is non—negotiable. how we do it, let's talk. hamas is non-negotiable. how we do it, let's talk-— it, let's talk. that was senator lindsey graham _ it, let's talk. that was senator lindsey graham talking - it, let's talk. that was senator lindsey graham talking

of these as sent it to the 8th, and that is who taking pots and this trip we heard that from lindsay graham before traveling to israel, he made several comments about flattening, gaza. there was no mention of the humanitarian situation in gaza as a consequence of is really action. however, one of the delegation, another member, is the democratic senator dorothy booker. now he, for his part, as aust abided administration to donate some $300000000.00 to the united nations emergency relief fund. so obviously they are different to prove opinions among these senators. i must as well, but as i sent it to the john to from the south dakota who refused to vote on biden's nomination for and best of the to israel. and the reason for this is because he and some of the republicans, ideologically opposed to approving any nomination by the, by the administration. well, you know, it's not voting on a, and that's the at a time when there is no invested in egypt, could hardly be seen as helpful to us as well. relations. right, and mike washington is deploying more military assets to the region. what more can