we have pulled together three representative sound bites that tell you the story of lindsey graham's ibility for the debacle now on display in afghanistan. here is the first of them from 12 years ago, and aunt graham explains as a obama super fan, he is in favor of sending 35,000 troops to fight a war despite the fact he knows perfectly well that many of them will die. watch. >> when it comes to afghanistan, i am completely supportive of the president-elect's decision to send 35,000 troops into afghanistan. i would like every american to know that not only are the troops needed, unfortunately casualties are likely to increase, but we have a game plan in afghanistan that i think justifies the expenditures of blood and treasure that is about to come. >> tucker: nuzzling with obama telling us, unfortunately casualties will increase, but we have a game plan in afghanistan that i think justifies the expenditures of blood and treasure. so now is a moment to ask, really, lindsey graham, what was the game plan? in a what point did you realize that it wasn't working? well, if lindsey graham ev

so, now is the moment to ask, really, lindsey graham, what was that "game plan"? d you realize that it wasn't working? well, if graham ever knew that his plans were failing, somehow he forgot to mention it to the rest of the country. so here is two years later telling us that we are really, really close to winning in afghanistan. and not just in afghanistan, bui also in tunisia, egypt, libya, syria, and yemen. this clip is hard to watch, but please, make yourself. >> we are on the verge, in my view, of turning this thing around. i see afghanistan, tunisia, egypt, libya, syria, yemen as incredible opportunities to change the world for the better. if we as congress accelerate the withdrawal schedule because it is popular at home, we will undercut all of the gains we have made. >> tucker: so the beauty of videotape is that it lives forever. that was ten years ago. afghanistan, tunisia, egypt, libya, syria, yemen, lindsey graham described them all as little laboratories to test his theories. all of those places still exist and are still countries. the question is, how

acolytes, his rubber stamps on so many issues, they were by his side, lindsey graham was practically his mini m me, a symbiotic twin, regardless of that, the minute they turn on him, the minute they're not willing to cross a bridge that is a bridge too far because it is about destroying democracy and based on lies, then they're not loyal. then he turns on them and he turns all the cannons on them. i think it explains some of lindsey's -- some of lindsey's actions after the election when we saw him quickly try it go to mar-a-lago and try to make up with him. but it is just -- it is crazy. it is never enough for trump. because it is always about one thing, donald trump. >> i'm sure lindsey graham is going to quit donald trump now, ana, right? >> hold your breath, why don't you? i'll bring over an oxygen tank. >> seriously, you know, why -- it is just another thing where lindsey graham could not possibly do more to curry favor with donald trump. yes, he said count me out on january 7th or whatever it was, but he didn't mean it. because they didn't count him out, he's playing golf with d

senator lindsey graham, welcome to hardtalk. thank you.s sacrificing no more blood and treasure in afghanistan. isn't that a source of profound relief to the american people? no, i think most americans are upset that we left our afghan allies behind. i think most americans are upset that we have american citizens behind enemy lines. i think a lot of americans wanted to wash their hands of afghanistan — it's been 20 years. that's what the polls say. yeah, but... the polls say that the american public had had enough. but not now. if you ask them — are you worried about us leaving afghanistan, a majority said we shouldn't have left. democracies have always been schizophrenic about this. if you talk about making afghanistan a democracy, there's not a whole lot of support. if you talk about having some of our troops over there so radical islam won't hit us at home, there's support. and the problem with people in my business is we've never honestly talked to the american people about why does it matter about afghanistan? everybody remembers 9/11

trump hung up on him and called him back a day later and lindsey graham said, i would have hung up, too. the core conclusion that graham has is you lost a close election. face it. notch it back. now we have trump out calling senator lee and senator graham, somehow they folded. trump is attacking them because they found the truth, and the truth is this was not a stolen election. >> wasn't even that close. >> wasn't even close. but we felt an obligation to look at that, and that's how we found these memos that were written. giuliani wrote all these memos to lindsey graham saying all kinds of fraudulent votes, kids voted, dead people voted. then they looked at this, it's not there. >> debunked, debunked, debunked. you've covered president trump since the beginning of sort of that staircase, robert. do you think he really believes he won, or do you think he really believes -- i feel like the truth showed up in one of the quotes in the book when he said, if i don't keep fighting, i'm lose my base. he thinks his political base is because he fights the establishment, not because of any policy?

get what you see on fox today with lindsey graham.re people who are sitting in washington and throughout this country that are working each day and probably tonight to figure out a policy solve for the immigration challenges that you've mentioned vexed the obama administration, the trump administration and now the biden administration. there are people who are running as fast as they can to fox to try to do with lindsey graham does which is inflame the situation. but we need to -- >> instead of fixing. it >> we need two parties that are willing to come together and govern the country, we know what people can see on fox, we need some governing solutions. again, lindsey graham used to be that but the party that he wanted to be part of and the party that he needed to be part of to get reelected were in violent disagreement with each other, lindsey graham long ago pick the party of politics. >> robert gibbs, michael steele, good to see you both, thank you for staying up with us. coming up, the weeks headline over booster shots may have le

giuliani wrote all these memos to lindsey graham saying all these kinds of fraudulent votes. beginning of that sort of staircase, robert does he -- do you think he really believes he won or do you think he really believes -- because i feel like the truth sort of showed up in one of the quotes in the book when he said if i don't keep fighting, i'll lose my base. he thinks his political base is because he fights the establishment, not because of any policy acts? >> i've learned covering president trump and covering politics, it doesn't matter what people think it's what they do. to assume nothing -- a lot of people in 2015 said trump won't run. he'll never win. well, he won and lost in 2020. he wants power back. our reporting in the book shows the rallies don't get a ton of coverage he's out there with this language we'll never surrender. we'll never give in. whips up thousands of people across the country the most important thing is he's influencing the republican party across the country to now run for office, to be secretaries of state, to be election officials. 2022 -- >> h

because lindsey graham, right, this is a republican senator down in south carolina who originally saidr and square, then he got heckled by hard core trumpers and changed his graham. lindsey graham and mike lee took these lies seriously enough that they provided resources and a platform to get pushed. how deep did this go? >> what's striking is that two of the top trump allies in the senate, senate graham and senator lee, conducted their own private probes of president trump's claims and found no evidence, nothing, to back up president trump and his claims. they were not credible claims. and this is not a media fact check, this is not some kind of talking point, this is reporting about two republicans. >> okay. but then where did those probes go? when have we heard from lindsey graham or mike lee that said, we heard what president trump -- former president trump claimed, we did our own work because we don't trust the media and unfortunately for trump, we found that he lost. when did they say that, if that's what -- if that's what their probe resulted in, when did they tell us that becau

what's going on now in lindsey graham, man, is he an interesting character >> you could write a whole book about graham. he is really a shakespearean character. he is ambivalent about trump. at one point as the book reports, in a call to trump he says, mr. president, you f-ed up your presidency. trump is so mad he hangs up. and then a day or two later calls graham back. and graham said i would have hung up, too. because i am saying you f-ed it up. and then graham is on the other side realizing how powerful, persuasive to his supporters that donald trump is. >> i mean, lindsey graham, you quote him saying to trump, we can't do it without you, mr. president. you have to help us. but you're going to have to focus on the future not the past. thanks, senator graham for standing up to him like that, and then going back to golf with him every day. he is saying this to donald trump yet continues to enable and empower him >> count me out but count him in. . >> covering capitol hill, you know the characters as well as anyone. someone like senator graham likes playing golf with president trump.

how far off base is lindsey graham? >> we do not.ever, i think there's two points i think we agree with. one is against the backdrop of the u.s. having military presence in almost 150 countries the fact that we pulled up and did not leave a small security force to mow the lawn, and sure some semblance of order of their production before the taliban invaded and by mowing the lawn, meghan back down the threats that happened there. that's number one. without that, the threat can and likely will grow in second, with threats of terrorism likely potentially minute including the home and, it would be there retribution? action with the u.s. necessarily take when and if terroristic action occurs? i think his logic is not necessarily off although obviously and invasion and thought of another 20 year war is exhausting but i do think he had some points that. kennedy: i think this country is so war weary especially when it comes to afghanistan but the withdrawal was so bad and so many problems created, i know lindsey graham is excited to bomb new

and it is giving lindsey graham an opportunity to say, this is going to go south. i think we will have to take a temperature of this in the weeks and months from now. it still remains a problem for the administration, because americans are stuck there. and over the 9/11 anniversary, there will be a lot of criticism from republicans about negotiating with the taliban. as long as americans are there, obviously the white house is going to be negotiating with the taliban to get them out. but i think we will have to take a look at this issue. and the damage that it will do to president biden. and not take the temperature in the heat of this moment. or worry about what lindsey graham is saying. >> much obliged to our starting line on this starting -- a.b. stoddard, eugene robinson, philip rucker, thanks for starting us off. coming up, maybe you are old enough to remember those predictions that this summer, this month in fact, was supposed to be when we all filed into work. now it is september and not so much. we can thank the delta variant and the anti vaxxer's and we wi

giuliani sent thick packet s of material to lindsey graham. on the senate judiciary committee to launch a neutral aggressive investigation. mike leeves, the most conservative republican that you can get, said there are seven states that have alternative electors, alleging that this would be the basis for pence to say, oh, i can't decide who has won the election. so mike lee got on the phone like a reporter and started calling the legislators in those states of arizona, wisconsin, pennsylvania and georgia and where is the alternative slate? nothing. absolutely zero. he couldn't believe it, and he talked to trump and said, this doesn't hold up at all, but trump has dismissed anyone who will face the reality that this was not a stolen election. >> we have to take a quick break. we'll pick up the conversation with bob and robert about new reporting in the post and from cnn about what the biden white house is leaning toward doing which could help the investigation, releasing information about what the president and his former aides were doing. tl t

there is no evidence and when you have senators lindsey graham and senator mike lee investigates. there was a scene where it's an extended scene where mike lee is sitting because he reads this memo from john eastman saying the alternative slates of electors in seven states and lee is going i haven't heard that, i haven't seenthat . that would be major news. at a senator can get anyone on the phone as we know and he sits there for a couple of days and calls all the heads of the legislatures in arizona, wisconsin, pennsylvania and georgia and says alternative electors, no . zero. there's nothing there. and he tries to tell trump personally this and convey that message as has lindsey graham, his supporters. it's kind of like the washington post, when we are working on a story and some editors says the story is there and the recorder from the field sometimes has to come in and say no, it's not there. and sometimes these ideas that editors and presidents have in their head, these things do not exist. and the existence of a stolen election is a total fantasy and you know, we scratched a

giuliani and trump's legal team couldn't even convince republican senator and trump loyalist, lindsey graham, that the 2020 election results were fraudulent. giuliani sent graham documents, which giuliani believed proved his theories. while graham publicly backed trump, in private, he came to the conclusion that giuliani's arguments were suitable for "third grade." >> shame on you, lindsey graham. these scurrilous accusations are an insult to all third graders everywhere. you would have to be a complete moron to believe this proves any fraud. >> this is fraud. this is absolute fraud. >> announcer: it's "the late show with stephen colbert." tonight: plus, stephen welcomes: bob woodward and robert costa and musical guest, leon bridges featuring jon batiste and stay human. and now, live on tape from the ed sullivan theater in new york city, it's stephen colbert! ( cheers and applause ) ♪ ♪ ♪ >> stephen: hey! diwalk too fast this time? hey, joe! cheaper good to see you. good to see you. please, have a seat, everybody. thanks. welcome, one and all to "the late show." i am your host, stephen colbe

giuliani and trump's legal team couldn't even convince republican senator and trump loyalist, lindsey grahament graham documents, which giuliani believed proved his theories. while graham publicly backed trump, in private, he came to the conclusion that giuliani's arguments were suitable for "third grade." >> shame on you, lindsey graham. these scurrilous accusations are an insult to all third graders everywhere. you would have to be a complete moron to believe this proves any fraud. >> this is fraud. this is absolute fraud. >> announcer: it's "the late

wondering about whether former president trump has been attacking -- what have been his allies, lindsey graham, mike lee. what does this say about where this is going? but we wonders that senator mcconnell said this could be a fading brand, the trumpism, the trump brand. is there any signs of that? are there any signs that this is a fading brand or is mcconnell a little off here? >> i think one thing that we have learned in covering the former president is that we can't ever say for certain, right? and nobody really can. but again, what hasn't changed as much as we would have thought especially since january 6th is the way that the people who vote for donald trump in -- and support donald trump have been impacted by this. you know, even in this statement that he released in response to those subpoena that is were issued, he was saying this is just an extension of the witchcraft -- witch hunt that he experienced. he was making threats. he, was, you know, saying that he had executive privilege, executive power that he no longer does. and so again, it's sort of an echo chamber that people cannot

how far off base is lindsey graham right now? >> and lord would know we do not.here are two points he's intimating who will agree with. one is against the backdrop of the united states having a military presence in almost 150 countries back to pulled out we did not leave a small security force to mow the lawn to ensure there some semblance of order of protection part of said this is before the taliban invaded. by mowing the lawn is a phrase the military uses. they can bat down the rise of terroristic threats that happens there. that is point number one. without that the threat can and likely will grow. the second point is with the threat of terrorism, likely, potentially imminent including on the homeland than what would be the retribution? what would be the result of that? what would be the action the united states would take when and if a terroristic action actually occurs. his line of logic is not necessarily off. obviously an invasion of the thought of another 20 year war is absolutely exhausting. i do think he has some points there. kennedy: think this count

>> well, lindsey graham is a hawk. and there are very few of them left in his party. and he knows that. and he tried to convince president trump, his good friend, to not abandon the kurds and do a lot of different things. and graham is, again, just speaking for a small minority of the republican party of yesteryear. and the withdrawal policy is popular among americans. biden and trump had sold the public on this. it is the management that everyone saw that is so unpopular, and it's giving someone like graham an opportunity to say, this is going to go south. i think we really have to take the temperature of this weeks and months from now. it still remains a problem for the administration because americans are stuck there. and over the 9/11 anniversary, there will be a lot of criticism from republicans about negotiating with the taliban. as long as americans are there, obviously, the white house is going to continue negotiating with the taliban to get them out. but i think we'll have to take a look at this issue months from now to see the damage and not take the tempera

he tries to tell trump personally this and convey that message as lindsey graham his supporters. it is kind of like the "washington post" and some editor says the story is there no it's not there that does not exist. editors and presidents have in their head these things do not exist. with the existence of a stolen election is a total fantasy. wheat scratched around, we called people, we went out into the night. knocking on doors, reluctant sources, making sure we got the best obtainable version of what occurred here. and what occurred here is there was no stolen election. >> on that note, i am going to turn to some the questions we have from the audience. the first one, will this be treasonous if you step outside of any normal channels in his communication with the chinese? or was this within. [inaudible] by. >> chairman millie going to testify before congress next week he's issued a statement ahead of that testimony saying he worked with in the procedures there wasn't some kind of miscommunication as bob and i write. this communication can be the seat of war, millie knew that.

gregory, or your colleagues or wherever i read that, always seemed like one step too far for lindsey grahamexposing him to criminal questions. what do you make of -- what questions would you have about lindsey's role and lindsey's conduct? >> yeah, check, check, check. it is all three, and around them, remember, he had somehow put himself in this small group including rudy giuliani and sidney powell. now, the big difference here is they don't have the goods on tape, but what he said was, try to get -- can you get rid of some of the mail-in ballots that don't seem to be kosher. now, relative to trump, he could say that he wasn't trying to do anything untoward, and he has already denied it. so it is a separate case to make. on the other hand, we know that the voluntary interviews they've done with the secretary of state's office have focused very much on this call and lindsey graham as well as on trump. so they're certainly pointing in that direction. he was certainly more than bibitzing at the time. he was being trump's emissary for, as far as anyone can tell, for asinine reasons but you hav

what is stunning is, and lindsey graham, for trump to say he's not -- doesn't talk to graham, they play golf all the time. they played golf last friday, i believe. and so, you know, the golf course and the political discussions are endless. so anyway, people can assess the facts here. >> bob, in the book, you outline how senators graham and lee poured a lot of cold water as we just reported on trump's allegations, the coup attempt as it's being called. now, the former president, let me put it up on the screen, this is the former president, lindsey and mike should be ashamed of themselves for not putting up the fight necessary to win. does every gop politician take note of that, of the former president reacts? >> let's understand why he's reacting in that way. the conventional wisdom on january 6th is that president trump was idly watching television in the west wing. what we show in our reporting is that on january 2nd, mark meadow, and rudy giuliani are meeting with senator graham, and january 2nd through january 5th, you have a pressure campaign on vice president pence. you have a jan

your thoughts on just that beginning of this piece and what lindsey graham the senator had to say over weekend, general. >> first of all thanks for having me. i appreciate it. look, give me a minute and i'll unpack it totally for you. 20 years ago on 9/11 i was in the pentagon sitting between secretary rums f*eld and dick meyers, the vice chairman of the joints chief of staff. the chairman was halfway across the atlantic and i watched the entire day unfold. fast forward to 20 years and the same government that we now see in kabul is the same government we saw 20 years ago. after 20 years and thousands killed and thousands wounded and trillions of dollars spent, we walk out with a loss going forward. and with nothing to really show for it in afghanistan. there was something to say to comment about what senator graham said, something i said to you a couple of months ago when we were in new york city you asked me the question what keeps you awake at night? i said i was concerned about the will of the american president to take decisive action when it was needed. and the current president

start with senator lindsey graham. senator graham, as we sit here today, i think it's so important obviously to reflect, and that was a time of great tragedy and unique unity that you experienced on capitol hill that day. we're also finding ourselves in a difficult situation going forward. your thoughts. >> number 1, let's look back and honor those that were murdered. this was mass murder on a large scale by a radical islamic group who desires to impose a master religion on the world. let's remember the families of the fallen, the heros of that day and the heros the last 20 years that stepped up to fight these bastards. i've never been so sick and mad as i am right now. 20 years later, who is in charge of afghanistan? what have we done? we left hundreds, not a hundred, hundreds of americans behind. abandoned thousands of afghans that fought along our side to make sure that afghanistan would never been a safe haven again. we screwed this up every way you can screw it up. it's a religious war. al-quaida wants to purify th

senator lindsey graham, welcome.ca is sacrificing no more blood and treasure in afghanistan, isn't that a source of profound relief to the american people? ma. source of profound relief to the american people? no. i think most _ the american people? no. i think most americans - the american people? no. i think most americans are l the american people? no. i - think most americans are upset that we left our afghan allies behind and i think most americans are upset that we left american citizens behind enemy lines and a lot of americans wanted to wash their hands of afghanistan. it has been 20 years.— hands of afghanistan. it has been 20 years. that is what the olls been 20 years. that is what the polls say. _ been 20 years. that is what the polls say. the — been 20 years. that is what the polls say, the american - been 20 years. that is what the polls say, the american public. polls say, the american public had had enough. but polls say, the american public had had enough.— polls say, the american public had had enoug

is also investigating south korea senator lindsey graham for a call he made to raffensperger back in mber asking him to toss out mail ballots in certain counties n a state he doesn't live in. graham denies trying to interfere with the election. what we are learning more about graham's role in the campaign by trump to overturn the election thanks to reporting in the new book "peril" by wodward and costa. the authors report on graham and mike lee's investigation of trump's claims of fraud, quote, they took the claims of frauders isly enough to get briefed on the details involve their sister staff and make calls throughout the country. privately, graham said they were suitable for, quote, third grade. neither senator disavowed trump's election fraud claim until after a mob of trump supporters stormed the capitol on january 6th. eddie and claire rejoin us. eddie, what did mr. graham and mr. lee think that bill barr couldn't? >> i don't know. i mean, it looks as if we have more evidence of those actors who were enablers for the big lie. and you know, the more evidence we get, nicole, the m

, for goodness's sake, and we can spend a whole segment on lindsey graham, but even lindsey graham told mike pence, there's no way to do this. what you're asking us to do here is unconstitutional. you have to abide by the constitution. at least he did it, but he is persona non grata right now. mike pence is persona non grata with the trump crowd. >> even as he made these calls trying to find out if he can accommodate him, he's still persona non grata. i want to quickly discuss immigration. the refugee crisis is not going to go away, as we saw thousands, the thousands of haitians who came to texas this week, something i'm very concerned about, how are we going to deal with it. the biden administration has announced plans to begin deportations. but as climate disasters multiply in frequency and intensity, this problem will only intensify in the coming years. maya, what should the biden administration be doing about immigration for these haitians, for the thousands of refugees already awaiting hearings and for those who will be displaced in the future? >> people who voted for joe bide

lindsey graham for the same kind of. charge the -- flavor of extortion.an, it is simple, and it has this fantastic feature of being all in the defendants voice, the thing that trump avoided all the time, but raffensperger was smart and knew he might lie about it and taped it, is the solicitation to commit election fraud. it would be, that tape would be played 20 different times in different ways and it is something of what's involved. just to add, they have been doing the voluntary part including with the secretary of state folks, i think they have to grand jury's assembled and they are the next -- the stuff would be to subpoena other documents. >> harry, the lindsey graham call since the time it was first recorded, i think that might have been by you gregory, or other, colleagues wherever i first read. that always seemed one step too far even for lindsey graham. not his state, not his role. potentially exposing him to criminal questions. what do you make of -- what questions would you have about lindsey's role and conduct? >> check, check, check! it's al

me move on to the book by bob woodward and robert costa, which says that republican senators lindsey grahame lee, two trump allies, rejected the election fraud claims by rudy giuliani and other trump lawyers after the election lindsey graham calling it third grade stuff and here's alex, the statement trump sent to the media. they should be ashamed of themselves for not putting up the fight necessary to win, do the media love it when trump seems to turn on his own allies? >> i think that's always the story that the media likes, but what i would say that these books aren't new, you know, going back to theodore white with the making of the president and back in the 60's you can always have these, you always have these books come after the elections with the anonymous sources in narrative form. it's always usually pretty easy to spot whose cooperated with the books because they happen to tell the anecdotes that make them look good, but i think that in terms of the reporting of this , and the president's response to this , it's kind of a wash because it's a little bit of an insider's game i thin

if he couldn't get lindsey graham to back him up and felt like he was undercut, if he couldn't get lindseyk we need to have that reconciliation conversation about police reform that we are having about voting rights? >> i think we must have that conversation about reconciliation. reconciliation and carveouts depend on how it deals with budgets. policemen deal with budgets. we pay billions of dollars a year for law enforcement. we have no accountability. we cannot redress any of what they are doing. that affects the budgets. it's not about de-funding the police. it's about funding police abuse and saying they're not going to be accountable. no one i believe can say with a straight face that what they saw happen with chauvin was right. it happened with eric garner in new york. a chokehold. one was a knee. the other was a man's armpit. the results were the same. countless other acts. it's time to know who is in the senate and be able to hold them accountable at the polls, which is why the voting rights movement we are engaged in is so important. clearly, today, we lost a round. the fight is f

can't think of anything less appealing than being trapped on a houseboat with lindsey graham.ever find my body floating in the east river, it was one or two things. either the mob put a hit out on me for making too many jokes about the mets, or i was on a houseboat with lindsey graham and swimming home was the only other option "where are you going i was just about to crack open a sarsaparilla and tell you about the time i was voted most polite at the mee-maw awards. [ light laughter ] it's an award voted on and presented by my mee-maw. i usually sweep the major categories." splash [ laughter ] the nation faces a series of massive existential crises brewing all at once, and we can't just sit around and wait for one guy in a houseboat to decide whether he wants to do something about it whether it's the pandemic, climate change, democracy itself or the right's intensifying assault on roe v. wade, which took a horrifying turn last week when the supreme court, in the dead of night, upheld a heinous and truly diabolical law in texas that bans abortions in brazen defiance of supreme

for giuliani may be in the soup for false statements, lindsey graham for the same charge.of extortion but going for clean, simple, fantastic feature of all in the defendant's voice, thing that trump avoided all the time but raffensperger was smart and knew he might lie and he taped it, is the solicitation to commit election fraud and would be played 20 different times in different ways, it's what's involved here. they've been doing voluntary part, secretary of state folks, two grand juries assembled and next step would be subpoena other documents. >> harry, the lindsey graham call, since time it was first reported, might have been by you gregory or colleagues, always seemed one step too far even for lindsey graham, not his state or role and potentially exposes him to criminal questions. what do you make -- what questions do you have about his conduct? >> check, check, check. around then he had put himself in small group with rudy giuliani and sidney powell. big difference, they don't have goods on tape but what he said, try to get -- can you get rid of the mail-in ballots

trump says mike lee and lindsey graham should be quote, "ashamed of themselves for not putting up the fight necessary to win." this came in response of woodward and costa who reported in their book "peril" that it was unconvinced. tie all of this together, we have the cyber ninjas and trump supporting the recount in texas that he won by 600,000 votes and he's going after lindsey graham who's been by his side and all the subpoenas coming from the house select committee, the former president is flailing again. >> this is what we have been warning the republican party about for four or five years that when you follow this guy. this republican party is dedicated to supporting with these crazy audits or candidates like the guy running for governor in nevada who used to be a u.s. senator who won't even say joe biden won the election. >> the truth that everybody knows. so just the absolute madness of it all, cyber ninjas in arizona bambooed and recounts in texas and states where donald trump won. every single person looking at this and the federal judiciary is saying there is nothing there.

have a listen to this frm us republican senator lindsey graham talking to the bbc�*s hardtalk programmeia. hang on, you seriously think the united states _ syria. hang on, you seriously think the united states will— syria. hang on, you seriously think the united states will once - syria. hang on, you seriously think the united states will once again? | the united states will once again? will have to do. in the united states will once again? will have to do.— the united states will once again? will have to do. in the foreseeable future have — will have to do. in the foreseeable future have to _ will have to do. in the foreseeable future have to put _ will have to do. in the foreseeable future have to put troops - will have to do. in the foreseeable future have to put troops back- will have to do. in the foreseeable future have to put troops back into afghanistan? taste future have to put troops back into afghanistan?— future have to put troops back into afuhanistan? ~ ., ., ., afghanistan? we will have to do, we will have to — afghanistan? we will have to do, we will have to do, _ afghan

we know that lindsey graham embraced trump when he ran for re-election.ry 6th after the insurrection. but that moment of bipartisanship has passed. one of the things i think we need to see is if democrats have to go it alone they have to blow up the filibuster to pass election reforms like requiring paper ballots, not things partisan, things that should help ensure fair election, setting the rules for you how you decide when you can send in a different slate of electors. all kinds of technical things. and hopefully there will be some republicans, some republicans who listen to what mitch mcconnell said on january 6th who will go along even if there aren't ten. this is the moment it has to happen before it's too late. >> yeah, it's just terrifying. i wonder, ian, going back to how do you combat it? because i want to feel there is a solution to this or something can be done. what do you do when so many now have reached this point where it's kind of like they say they like democracy. they support democracy but they don't really, because if the elections are

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i spoke to south carolina senators tim scott and lindsey graham yesterday and they raised some flagson of the bill, listen. >> bringing in ushering in socialism in a way that's going to be unravel. it's hard to unscramble an egg. whether a they're doing with this $3.5 trillion package, the content rushes us towards socialism. >> this is the biggest threat to the way our government works and biggest step towards socialism in my lifetime. >> brian: but the real obstacle is facing maybe from her own party. the democrats who are skeptical of the plan, they have some moderates and those way to the left. so pelosi decides to take it to the media over the weekend to voice hers concerns. this will be paid for. so when some say oh, well, what about inflation? it will be paid for. and that's the beauty of it. let's not talk about numbers. let's and dollars, let's talk about values. >> brian: okay. i'm sorry for getting caught up in the trillions. it sounds like even pelosi doesn't know who is paying for all of this. she is more concerned about values, not costs. aren't we all? don't worry, ms.

wait a minute, who has got evidence former attorney general barr zero lindsey graham, zero mike lee,who talked to trump about this and again, another zero evidence. >> as you said, you do that reporting so you hear from those people and that helps under score whether this was a march to find a solution or a solution that was just pressed down regardless the final question i have for you is just what do you say to people who look at these books and say well, the sources are giving a lot of the direction and there are people like barr and miley that want to make sure people know they were somehow more secretly critical than it seemed we're familiar with that type of analysis but give you the benefit of responding to that. >> well, in the case of general milley, he was very public about pushing back from trump so that's no surprise that was not concealed he's testifying tomorrow and it will be very interesting because bob costa and i found no evidence that he committed treason as some people allege. in fact, all of the information we have and we spent months on this is that he did thing

said trump's arguments were, quote, suitable for third grade. >> the interesting thing about lindsey grahamne of president trump's top allies on capitol hill, one of the senators he was most close with, daily conversations over the phone and frequent visits to mar-a-lago. if he couldn't convince him there, wasn't going to be convincing anyone. >> woodward and costa write that trump's team also tried to convince another trump loyalist, mike lee of utah, that certain slates of electoral votes could be set aside by then vice president mike pence on january 6th but lee didn't buy that legal argument. after publicly backing trump's efforts graham and lee both in the end voted to sert fight election results, and on the night of january 6th in the wake of the attack on the capitol, graham voiced his frustration with trump's efforts to counter the results. >> all i can say is count me out. enough is enough. i've tried to be helpful. >> reporter: neither graham's nor lee's offices responded to our requests for comment on the new reporting by woodward and costa. the co-authors meanwhile are defending

additionally, these claims and others were vetted by senators mike lee and lindsey graham and even they expressed skepticism. all of this shows how determined trump and his people were to find a way to steal the election, and while they may have failed this time, 2020 could be a dry run for another attempt in 2024. meanwhile, new evidence suggests that the trump campaign knowingly and intentionally lied about supported fraud in 2020. you might recall the days after the november 3rd, trump's lawyers including rudy giuliani and sydney powell held a wild press conference alleging a vast conspiracy by voting machine and voting software companies that also involved george soros and the deceased president of venezuela. now "the new york times" reveals by the time that news conference occurred, trump's campaign had already prepared an internal memo on many of the outlandish claims and the memo determined those allegations were untrue. all these developments will certainly be of interest to the select committee's investigation, which according to congressman jamie raskin is entering an aggressi