Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham called on law enforcement officials to “take back” the Senate chambers from rioters after they disrupted the Jan. 6 electoral vote count.
“What are you doing? Take back the Senate! You’ve got guns. Use them,” Graham told the Senate sergeant-at-arms. The comments were first reported by The Washington Post.
19/ (Almost passed this over, but a stunning anecdote about Lindsey Graham) pic.twitter.com/1dxrGfW9rQ
— Justin Hendrix (@justinhendrix) November 1, 2021
A spokesman for Graham confirmed the comments in a statement to Fox News.
“Graham was quite clear on this point, noting that the backpacks and other items brought into the Capitol could have contained bombs and explosives. The damage could have been much, much worse,” communications director Kevin Bishop said. (RELATED: New FBI Footage Shows RNC, DNC Pipe Bomber Suspect From Day Before Jan. 6)
When reached for comment, Bishop pointed to comments Graham made on Jan. 7 as further outlining his thinking on the riot.
“Yesterday they could have blown the building up. They could have killed us all,” Graham said on C-SPAN. “People coming through the windows had backpacks, as big as my desk on the Senate. They should have been challenged, warning shots should have been fired and lethal force should have been used once they’d penetrated the seat of government. Those backpacks could have had bombs, chemical agents, weapons. We dodged a major bullet yesterday. If this is not a wake up call, I do not know what it is. Is that a money problem? If it is we’ll fix it. Is it a leadership problem? Obviously. Is it an Intel failure of the highest proportions? Absolutely.”
During the riot, Capitol Police officers and lawmakers barricaded doors to the House chamber and Speaker’s Lobby. Police shot rioter Ashli Babbitt, who attempted to climb through the doors and refused to comply with orders to move away from the barrier.
Graham later asserted that former President Donald Trump would “get his share of blame in history” for his role in the riot, although he judged Trump’s impeachment for inciting the riot unconstitutional.