Lindsey Graham Calls for Task Force to Identify Everyone Involved in Capitol Breach, Sedition Charges May Soon Follow
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina on Thursday said sedition charges could be waiting for those who turned the U.S. Capitol into a chaotic hotbed of fear and anarchy on Wednesday.
Graham said he wants a joint task force created to identify everyone who entered the Capitol, where rioters smashed glass and defaced property. One person was shot dead by police and three other people died from medical emergencies during the chaos.
“There is a ton of video evidence out there … The people sitting in the chairs need to be sitting in a jail cell,” he said, referring to footage of rioters sitting in the chairs of various lawmakers.
Sen. Lindsey Graham calls for a joint task force to “identify every person” involved in breach of the U.S. Capitol. “The people sitting in the chairs need to be sitting in a jail cell… sedition may be a charge for some of these people.” https://t.co/hN4I4Mf5kf pic.twitter.com/aYWKZXIivh
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) January 7, 2021
“The people who attacked the Capitol Hill Police need to be charged with attacking a police officer. Sedition may be a charge for some of these people,” he said.
Graham also vented his anger at the failure of police to stop rioters from entering the building in the first place.
“Anyone in charge of defending the Capitol failed,” Graham said, according to The Hill. “The first thing that has to happen is to hold those accountable for failing to defend the nation’s Capitol while the Congress was in session.”
Although many rioters shown in images and videos exhibited behavior that could be likened to that of tourists, Graham noted that the point is not what was done, but what could have been done.
“They could have blown the building up. They could have killed us all. They could’ve destroyed the government,” Graham said. “Lethal force should have been used. … We dodged a major bullet. If this is not a wake-up call I don’t know what is.”
“How could that happen 20 years after 9/11. … It is mind-boggling that such an event could occur,” Graham added.
“How could we not be prepared? How could in a joint session of Congress with the vice president in the building you not do better than this?” he said. “Where were the National Guard?”
#BREAKING: Sen. Lindsey Graham weighs in on 25th Amendment: “As to the 25th Amendment being invoked, I do not believe that’s appropriate at this point.” pic.twitter.com/0M9sbchGpr
— The Hill (@thehill) January 7, 2021
Sen. Lindsey Graham to Democrats: “I share your disgust and embarrassment and determination to make sure that what happened in our Capitol never happens again — but you need to speak up when this happens in other places. Lawlessness in one place breeds lawlessness everywhere.” pic.twitter.com/efJKXkUNdW
— The Hill (@thehill) January 7, 2021
Graham also said Thursday that President Donald Trump “needs to understand that his actions were the problem, not the solution,” according to The Associated Press.
“[I]t breaks my heart that my friend, a president of consequence, would allow yesterday to happen.”
During the overnight Senate debate that resulted in Congress certifying the results of the Electoral College vote that President-elect Joe Biden would be the next president, Graham showed his weariness with the events of Wednesday, according to NBC News.
“All I can say is count me out. Enough is enough,” he said.
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