Senator Lindsey Graham (T-SC), Like Trump, Intends To Extort the Federal Government

Nov 13, 2025 05:13 PM EST, Thu

“Trump and I have had a hell of a journey. I hate it being this way. Oh, my God, I hate it. From my point of view, he has been a consequential President. But today, the first thing you will see, all I can say is, count me out. Enough is enough. I tried to be helpful.”

That was Senator Graham (T-SC) in the Congressional Record on the evening of January 6 after order was restored to the Capitol.

Weeks earlier, Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger stated that Graham called, asking to discard mail-in ballots. Of course, there’s the infamous recorded conversation where Trump wanted Georgia to find 11,780 more votes.

November 18, 2022, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Jack Smith as Special Counsel to investigate Trump’s election interference and classified documents theft. Smith requested call records, number dialed and duration from the past as part of his investigations.

Earlier this year, at a Senate hearing with a combative Kash Patel, numerous Trumpian senators were livid that Smith “wiretapped” their cellphones.

Wiretapping is defined as recording or listening to conversations as they are taking place. There’s a gaping hole in their logic. How can Smith know details of conversations that took place after they happened?

It is impossible to wiretap history!

Flash forward to last week, there’s a provision in the Senate amended CR with a provision to sue the government individually for $500,000 for “wiretapping”. In reality, this is called extortion.

Congressman Jim Jordan (T-OH4) requested that Jack Smith testify before the House Judiciary Committee in a closed door hearing. Knowing Jordan’s penchant for distorting the truth, Smith agreed, but in an open, public hearing.

Senate Republicans include a sneaky payout in spending bill

Nov 12, 2025 #politics #republicans #budget Jen Psaki explains how Republican theatrics over being included in federal investigations of Donald Trump’s effort to subvert his 2020 election loss has led to the inclusion of a retroactive legal provision in the new spending bill.

For more context and news coverage of the most important stories of our day click here: https://www.msnbc.com/

GOP’s Lindsey Graham says he’ll ‘definitely’ sue over faux phone records controversy

Senate Republicans empowered themselves to file lucrative “Arctic Frost” lawsuits, but House Republicans intend to take that power away.

Nov. 13, 2025, 11:26 AM EST By Steve Benen

The spending package that ended the government shutdown was divisive the moment it reached the public, but it appeared even more controversial when the political world learned of a provocative provision that Senate Republicans tucked into the package.

Under the language quietly inserted into the bill, GOP senators whose phone records were searched as part of special counsel Jack Smith’s Jan. 6 investigation would have the authority to file lucrative lawsuits. (Republican Sen. Ted Cruz (T-TX) told Politico that it was Senate Majority Leader John Thune (T-SD) himself who made sure this provision was included in the final bill.)

Even by contemporary congressional standards, it was a brazen move — in part because the GOP’s “Arctic Frost” claims appear baseless, in part because this provision was added to the legislation in secret and in part because it’s rare to see senators pave the way for themselves to file dubious lawsuits in which they personally would be rewarded with taxpayer money.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham (T-SC) , one of the eight eligible GOP senators, nevertheless boasted about his intention to take advantage of the opportunity Republicans created for themselves. The Washington Post reported:

Graham, who had his phone records seized, said Wednesday that he would ‘definitely’ sue under the law. ‘And if you think I’m going to settle this thing for a million dollars? No,’ Graham told reporters in South Carolina. ‘I want to make it so painful no one ever does this again.’

He did not appear to be kidding.

But before Graham’s lawyers head to a nearby courthouse, they should probably take note of the fact that a whole lot of House members — including plenty of Republicans — aren’t pleased about the Senate GOP’s gambit, and they’re eager to do something about it. Roll Call reported:

Speaker Mike Johnson announced plans to pursue legislation next week that would repeal a Senate provision in a major spending package that incensed House Republicans and threatened to prolong the partial government shutdown. The must-pass spending measure drew eleventh-hour objections from House members of both parties after the discovery in recent days of a provision that would allow senators to sue for at least $500,000 each when federal investigators search their phone records in a judicially sanctioned probe without notifying them.

In comments to reporters this week, the House speaker conceded the Senate’s provision “was a really bad look,” which his chamber intends to “fix” in a standalone bill.

A House vote on undoing the policy is expected next week, and it should pass with broad and bipartisan support. When the Senate would take up such a measure is unclear. Watch this space.

Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MSNBC political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”

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