94 Facts About Senator Lindsey Graham

Lindsey Olin Graham was born on July 9,1955 and is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from South Carolina, a seat he has held since 2003.

Senator Lindsey Graham was awarded a Bronze Star Medal for meritorious service in 2014 and held the rank of colonel.

Senator Lindsey Graham worked as a lawyer in private practice before serving one term in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1993 to 1995.

Senator Lindsey Graham served four terms in the United States House of Representatives for South Carolina's 3rd congressional district from 1995 to 2003.

In 2002, Senator Lindsey Graham won the US Senate seat vacated by retiring Republican incumbent Strom Thurmond.

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Senator Lindsey Graham has criticized the Tea Party movement, arguing for a more inclusive Republican Party.

Senator Lindsey Graham sought the Republican nomination for president between June and December 2015, dropping out before the 2016 Republican primaries began.

Senator Lindsey Graham was an outspoken critic of Donald Trump's 2016 candidacy and repeatedly said he did not support Trump; in particular, he took issue with Trump's comments on Graham's close friend, Senator John McCain.

Senator Lindsey Graham's reversal caught both parties by surprise and sparked media speculation.

Senator Lindsey Graham became chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in January 2019, and led the US Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Amy Coney Barrett, who was confirmed in October 2020.

Daniel High School, Senator Lindsey Graham became the first member of his family to attend college, and joined the Reserve Officers' Training Corps.

Senator Lindsey Graham graduated from the University of South Carolina with a B A in psychology in 1977, and from the University of South Carolina School of Law with a JD in 1981.

Senator Lindsey Graham's duty began with a stint as an Air Force defense attorney, after which he was transferred to Rhein-Main Air Base in Frankfurt, Germany, where from 1984 to 1988 he was the Air Force's chief prosecutor in Europe.

Senator Lindsey Graham served as assistant county attorney for Oconee County from 1988 to 1992 and city attorney for Central from 1990 to 1994.

In 1998, the Capitol Hill daily newspaper The Hill contended that Senator Lindsey Graham was describing himself on his website as an Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm veteran.

In 2007, Senator Lindsey Graham served in Iraq as a reservist on active duty for a short period in April and for two weeks in August, where he worked on detainee and rule-of-law issues.

Senator Lindsey Graham served in Afghanistan during the August 2009 Senate recess.

Senator Lindsey Graham was then assigned as a senior instructor at the Judge Advocate General's School, though he never went.

In 2014, Senator Lindsey Graham received a Bronze Star medal for meritorious service as a senior legal adviser to the Air Force in Iraq and Afghanistan from August 2009 to July 2014, overseeing the detention of military prisoners.

In 1992, Senator Lindsey Graham was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives from the 2nd district, in Oconee County.

In 1997, Senator Lindsey Graham took part in a leadership challenge against House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

In November 1997, Senator Lindsey Graham was one of 18 House Republicans to co-sponsor a resolution by Bob Barr that sought to launch an impeachment inquiry into President Bill Clinton.

On October 8,1998, Senator Lindsey Graham voted in favor of legislation to open an impeachment inquiry.

Senator Lindsey Graham was a member of the Judiciary Committee, which conducted the inquiry.

In both the Judiciary Committee vote on forwarding articles of impeachment, and the full House vote on those articles of impeachment, Senator Lindsey Graham voted for three of the four articles of impeachment.

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Senator Lindsey Graham voted against the second count of perjury in the Paula Jones case.

Senator Lindsey Graham served as an impeachment manager in the impeachment trial.

Senator Lindsey Graham ran to succeed him and won the Republican primary unopposed.

When Senator Lindsey Graham ran for a second term in 2008, he was challenged in the Republican primary by National Executive Committeeman of the South Carolina Republican Party, Buddy Witherspoon.

All the Republican senators up for reelection in 2014, Graham was considered one of the most vulnerable to a primary challenge, largely due to his low approval ratings and reputation for working with and compromising with Democrats.

Senator Lindsey Graham expected a primary challenge from conservative activists, including the Tea Party movement, and Chris Chocola, President of the Club for Growth, indicated that his organization would support a primary challenge if an acceptable standard-bearer emerged.

Senator Lindsey Graham is a member of the board of directors of the International Republican Institute.

Senator Lindsey Graham said that the meeting went so well that he passed his new phone number to Trump, in reference to their 2015 conflict.

Senator Lindsey Graham asked Graham how he became a prominent Trump supporter.

Senator Lindsey Graham was then criticized for not standing up for McCain.

Trump's daughter Ivanka attended his funeral, reportedly at the invitation of Senator Lindsey Graham, who had reportedly gotten McCain's wife's permission.

In July 2019, Senator Lindsey Graham said he did not think Trump was racist and that he did not think that Trump's statements that certain Democratic congresswomen should "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came" were racist.

On October 8,2019, during an interview with Jonathan Swan of Axios, Senator Lindsey Graham condemned Trump's announcement of an intention to withdraw US troops from northern Syria, saying that Trump was putting the nation and his presidency at risk, and that it was without the support of key national security advisers.

Senator Lindsey Graham said he donated $500,000 to Trump's election lawsuits in various states, and that the option should be "on the table" for Republican state legislators to invalidate election results due to alleged "corruption" by appointing presidential electors who would vote for Trump.

Raffensperger, a Republican, told The Washington Post that Senator Lindsey Graham had asked Raffensperger whether Raffensperger could disqualify all mail-in ballots in counties with more signature errors.

Senator Lindsey Graham went on to claim that he had spoken to Arizona's and Nevada's secretaries of state.

Those secretaries denied this, and Senator Lindsey Graham reversed himself, saying that he had spoken to the governor of Arizona and no official in Nevada.

The Washington Post reported in February 2021 that Fani Willis, the Fulton County, Georgia district attorney, was examining Senator Lindsey Graham's phone call to Raffensperger as part of a criminal investigation into possible efforts to illegally overturn Georgia's election results.

In May 2020, Senator Lindsey Graham said the Senate would work to confirm a Supreme Court nominee if a vacancy arose before the November election.

Senator Lindsey Graham said that in 2013, years before his 2016 pledge, Democrats had changed Senate rules to allow a simple majority vote for nominees to United States courts of appeals.

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On May 23,2005, Graham was one of the so-called Gang of 14 senators forging a compromise that brought a halt to the continued blockage of an up-or-down vote on judicial nominees.

In July 2005, Senator Lindsey Graham secured the declassification and release of memoranda outlining concerns made by senior military lawyers as early as 2003 about the legality of the interrogations of prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay.

Senator Lindsey Graham has said he amended the Department of Defense Authorization Act in order to give military lawyers, as opposed to politically appointed lawyers, a more independent role in the oversight of military commanders.

Senator Lindsey Graham added that military lawyers had long observed the provisions of the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Geneva Convention, but that the Bush administration had not considered those provisions in decisions about the treatment of Guantanamo Bay detainees.

Senator Lindsey Graham claimed that better legal oversight within the military's chain of command would prevent future detainee abuse.

In July 2010, Senator Lindsey Graham suggested that US citizenship as a birthright guaranteed by the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution should be amended, and that any children born to illegal immigrants in the United States should be considered illegal immigrants.

On January 28,2013, Graham was a member of a bipartisan group of eight senators that announced principles for comprehensive immigration reform.

On June 23,2013, Senator Lindsey Graham said that the Senate was close to obtaining 70 votes to pass the reform package.

In May 2019, Senator Lindsey Graham proposed instituting new immigration laws that would only allow migrants to apply for asylum from their home country or Mexico, smooth the process to deport unaccompanied children to Central America, and extend the period by which migrant children could be detained from 20 days to 100 days.

Senator Lindsey Graham reacted that it was not "a concentration camp" but "a facility overwhelmed".

In May 2018, Senator Lindsey Graham voted against legislation that would have overturned the FCC's ruling and restored net neutrality.

In March 2017, Senator Lindsey Graham voted for the Broadband Consumer Privacy Proposal that removed the FCC's internet privacy rules and allowed internet service providers to sell customers' browsing history without their permission.

In 2022, Graham became one of ten Republican senators to support a bipartisan agreement on gun control, which included a red flag provision, a support for state crisis intervention orders, funding for school safety resources, stronger background checks for buyers under the age of 21, and penalties for straw purchases.

Senator Lindsey Graham opposed President Obama's health reform legislation; he voted against the Affordable Care Act in December 2009, and against the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.

Senator Lindsey Graham played a leading role in efforts to repeal Obamacare, authoring the Graham–Cassidy amendment to Republicans' 2017 repeal efforts.

In 2015, Senator Lindsey Graham sponsored the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act in the Senate, which bans abortion after 20 weeks of gestation on a national basis, with some exceptions.

In 2018, Graham was anti-abortion, but said that Roe v Wade is precedent that should not be overturned without good reason.

In 1996, Senator Lindsey Graham voted for the Defense of Marriage Act, which became federal law that year; it defined marriage as between one man and one woman, and enacted non-recognition of same-sex marriages at the federal level.

Senator Lindsey Graham reiterated his support of the Defense of Marriage Act in 2022.

Senator Lindsey Graham voted to support a constitutional amendment opposing marriage between same-sex couples in 2006.

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Senator Lindsey Graham was identified as a potential Republican supporter of a climate change bill and thought to be a likely sponsor of the final bill, but he pulled his support, saying that he disapproved of Senate Democrats moving forward with legislation to deal with immigration issues, a reaction to Arizona's passage of an illegal immigration law.

In 2015, Senator Lindsey Graham said he "completely understand[s] and accept[s]" that climate change is real, but said "I don't know" the role human activity played.

In 2020, Senator Lindsey Graham sponsored the Growing Climate Solutions Act, a bill that would make it simpler for farmers to sell carbon credits on existing carbon trading markets in California and in the Northeast.

Senator Lindsey Graham was a frequent critic of the foreign policy of the Barack Obama administration.

Senator Lindsey Graham suggested that the US stay in Afghanistan permanently, claiming that this would benefit both nations, as the US would have a clear idea of what was happening in the region on a daily basis, and Afghan security forces would have an edge militarily to ensure that Afghanistan never fell back into the hands of the Taliban.

Senator Lindsey Graham further claimed that Afghan leaders accept this long-term US military presence since it benefits them, but Iran and some of its allies oppose it, a debatable claim.

Senator Lindsey Graham vehemently opposed Joe Biden's plan to withdraw all US troops from Afghanistan.

On November 6,2010, Senator Lindsey Graham called for a preemptive military strike to weaken the Iranian regime.

In December 2010, Graham was one of 26 senators to vote against the ratification of New Start, a nuclear arms reduction treaty between the US and the Russian Federation obliging both countries to have no more than 1,550 strategic warheads or 700 launchers deployed during the next seven years along with providing a continuation of on-site inspections that halted when START I expired the previous year.

On July 16,2013, Senator Lindsey Graham suggested the United States should consider boycotting the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, because of "what the Russian government is doing throughout the world".

On March 3,2022, Senator Lindsey Graham tweeted that "The only way this ends is for somebody in Russia to take this guy out" in response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

On January 29,2013, Senator Lindsey Graham said that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton "got away with murder" after her testimony about the 2012 Benghazi attack, but the next year he said that the House Intelligence Committee report on Benghazi was "full of crap" and that the Obama administration had been cleared of many of the charges therein.

On January 5,2017, Senator Lindsey Graham condemned Obama for abstaining from UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which condemned Israeli settlement building in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem as a violation of international law.

On March 11,2019, Senator Lindsey Graham said he would encourage the Trump administration to recognize the Golan Heights as part of Israel.

In May 2019, Senator Lindsey Graham called for a military invasion of Venezuela to overthrow Nicolas Maduro amid the 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis.

Senator Lindsey Graham praised the Trump administration for sending thousands of additional troops to Saudi Arabia to counter Iran's threat.

Senator Lindsey Graham praised Saudi Arabia for opening its airspace to Israeli flights.

In November 2019, Senator Lindsey Graham blocked a Senate resolution to officially recognize the Armenian genocide.

Grassley and Senator Lindsey Graham said that they had reason to believe that Steele had lied to federal authorities.

On March 14,2019, Senator Lindsey Graham blocked a resolution calling for Mueller's report to be made public after it passed the House unanimously.

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Senator Lindsey Graham made everybody available to Mueller that Mueller wanted to talk to, and he.

Over a ten-year period, Senator Lindsey Graham received $62,800 in campaign contributions from the firm's partners.

Spokesman for Senator Lindsey Graham said that Senator Lindsey Graham would return the money he received from the firm's lawyers if the law firm were indicted or convicted on corruption charges.

Senator Lindsey Graham supported John McCain for president in 2000 and served as national co-chair of McCain's 2008 presidential campaign.

In 2012, Senator Lindsey Graham's endorsement was highly sought, but he declined to endorse a Republican candidate before the January South Carolina Republican primary.

Senator Lindsey Graham announced his candidacy for President on June 1,2015.

On December 21,2015, Senator Lindsey Graham suspended his presidential campaign, due to lack of support and poor polling, and on January 15,2016, endorsed former Florida Governor Jeb Bush.

Senator Lindsey Graham helped raise his sister, Darline Graham Nordone, after the death of his mother and father, which occurred within 15 months of each other, leaving the two without parents when Graham was 22 and she was 13.

Senator Lindsey Graham has said that his parents' early deaths made him mature more quickly, and Nordone, who introduced her brother at his 2016 announcement of his candidacy for president, said she hoped to be with him on the campaign trail frequently to show voters his softer side.