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Salon
Salon
Politics
Bob Brigham

A theory on the Trump-Graham friendship

President Donald Trump speaks to Sen. Lindsey Graham Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Extremist groups are turning on themselves as prosecutors close in on those who took part in the fatal Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol and a similar dynamic may be playing out among those who incited the insurrection.

The theory was broken down by former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal, who was interviewed on MSNBC to answer questions about Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis hiring racketeering expert John Floyd for the investigation into whether Donald Trump and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, may have violated the law with efforts to overturn the election results in Georgia.

"Racketeering is often really about violent crimes like murder or kidnapping, but Georgia defines it more broadly to include false statements made to state officials," Katyal explained.

"And here Trump does have a defense," he continued. "What he's going to say is 'I wasn't falsifying information, I genuinely believed I had won the election.' Now ordinarily, that kind of defense wouldn't pass the smell test, but when you're dealing with delusion of grandeur Donald, maybe he's got a defense there."

"The investigation is not just about Trump. It's also about Lindsey Graham, Rudy Giuliani, the former U.S. Attorney, Mr. Byung Pak and some others," he said. "And any of those folks can flip on Trump."

"And I heard you in last segment talking about Lindsey Graham, why is he still palling around with Donald Trump? Well, one shouldn't rule out . . . the possibility that he might be palling around with Donald Trump, because he's hoping Trump will let something slip that Lindsey Graham can use in exchange for a deal."

You can watch the video below via YouTube

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