Sen. Graham questions presidential pardons by Trump, Biden

Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, said in a Sunday interview on CNN that he did not like President Donald Trump pardoning Jan. 6 protesters who attacked police officers. The senator argued that the pardons sent the wrong public message about attacking law enforcement.

How close are Trump and Graham, and is this a big change in their relationship? The senator briefly ran for president, dropping out of the Republican primary race well in advance of the 2016 general election. His relationship with the president seemed to improve following a March 2017 meeting, but he has occasionally differed with Trump since then. For instance, he took exception to Trump’s stance on abortion in April last year. 

On Sunday, Graham told CNN that he took issue with the presidential power to pardon, also expressing disapproval of former President Joe Biden for pardoning a man who attacked FBI agents. The executive power to pardon may need to be reined in if this pattern becomes normalized, Graham said.

He insisted that although he disagreed with actions on both sides, he commended Trump on keeping his word about the pardons—Trump had earlier expressed an intention to pardon many of the Jan. 6 rioters. However, Biden had insisted he would not preemptively pardon his family months before leaving office, only to turn around and pardon them at the last minute, Graham noted in the interview. Trump told the public what he planned to do and kept to that plan, the senator argued.

Dig deeper: Read my report for more detail on Trump’s defending the pardons and what other GOP leaders have to say.