Republican Senator Lindsey Graham is among the lawmakers being ridiculed for taking a personal trip amid the Department of Homeland Security shutdown, after TMZ published photos of Graham walking around Disney World with a bubble wand toy, dinning at Chef Mickey’s and standing in line for Space Mountain.
The South Carolina senator appeared to be wearing business attire while holding a pink bubble wand toy while walking around the “Tangled” area of Magic Kingdom Friday, the tabloid news outlet reported.
Saturday, Graham appeared to be in more casual clothing while boarding the rollercoaster ride Space Mountain.
The South Carolina senator defended his trip to Disney World, telling TMZ he met some friends at the theme park after “meeting in South Florida on Friday with Trump official Steve Witkoff and others to talk about the possibility of normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel.”
“I voted seven times to fully fund the government. Call a Democrat,” Graham told the news outlet, saying he had returned to his home state by Sunday.
The Republican senator remained in South Carolina as of Monday and has several events planned across his state this week.
But the images of Graham enjoying his time at the theme park angered some people who are frustrated that lawmakers are taking a two-week recess from their jobs despite failing to pass legislation that will fund DHS and its agencies. Airport security falls under the DHS umbrella and the shutdown has led to long lines at some airports.
Conservative commentators Matt Walsh, Alex Jones and Tucker Carlson were among those criticizing Graham for being at Disney World.
“While our country is at war, our airports are a mess, DHS is not funded, and our elections are not secure, Lindsey Graham is wandering around Disney World with a bubble wand. This is an image that should live in infamy,” Walsh wrote on X.
“Israel First, Disney World second…,” the Tucker Carlson Network wrote on X.
“The Government is shut down, and the SAVE act isn’t passed, while Peter Pan Lady Graham plays at Disney but even more insulting is American Soldiers are dying in a war he is the face of while he does whatever the hell this is,” Paul Dans, a Republican candidate challenging Graham in South Carolina, wrote.
For more than a month, TSA officers, FEMA employees, Coast Guard members and other federal workers were forced to show up to work without pay. Although President Donald Trump signed an executive order paying TSA workers, amid record-long airport security wait times, other employees remain unpaid.
Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia of California was also criticized for making a trip to Las Vegas, where TMZ obtained photos of him sitting in a casino. Garcia later said he was visiting his father who has lived in Las Vegas.
“Actually I don’t mind what TMZ is doing here,” Garcia wrote on X. “And like I said a few days ago, Speaker Mike Johnson should have never sent us all home.”
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have pointed fingers at one another for causing the DHS shutdown that began over a dispute on how to fund the department while also implementing more accountability mechanisms for immigration enforcement officers.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders was also spotted on a flight out of D.C. Over the weekend, he spoke at a a “No Kings” rally in St. Paul, Minnesota, and later at Lehman College in the Bronx, New York.
Republican Rep. Buddy Carter of Georgia was seen at an airport in Charlottesville, Virginia, Saturday. A representative for Carter told TMZ the lawmaker made the trip to watch his 10-year-old grandson’s baseball game.
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