Lindsey Graham Warns There Will Be ‘Riots’ If Trump Is Prosecuted

(L-R) Then-President Donald Trump looks on as Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) speaks during an event about judicial confirmations in the East Room of the White House on Nov. 6, 2019. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) warned there may be “riots in the streets” if former President Donald Trump is prosecuted amid an investigation into allegedly classified documents that were taken by FBI agents at his home earlier this month.

“If there’s a prosecution of Donald Trump for mishandling classified information, after the [Hillary] Clinton debacle … there’ll be riots in the streets,” Graham told former South Carolina congressman Trey Gowdy on Fox News’ “Sunday Night in America.” Graham appeared to be referring to an investigation into Clinton’s email server, which dominated headlines during the 2016 election.

A clip of Graham’s interview on Fox News was shared by Trump on his Truth Social platform on Sunday evening.

Graham repeated the line about “riots in the streets” later in the interview when he was asked by Gowdy about a district attorney in Fulton County, Georgia, seeking his testimony in a Trump-related probe into the 2020 election. More than a week ago, Graham was handed victory by a judge, who issued an order blocking the district attorney from compelling testimony from the senator via a subpoena.

Elaborating, Graham said that Trump is being treated with a “double standard,” adding, “I worry about our country.” The longtime senator discussed how Hunter Biden and his infamous laptop were treated by law enforcement and Big Tech companies in the run-up to the 2020 election.

“Most Republicans, including me, [believe] when it comes to Trump, there is no law. It’s all about getting him,” Graham said. “I’ve never been more worried about the law and politics as I am right now,” he added.

Affidavit

The former president was targeted by FBI agents in a raid on his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida on Aug. 8. Both the FBI and Department of Justice, which produced the affidavit seeking an FBI search warrant for his property, have not publicly disclosed why the search of his home—an unprecedented action taken against a former president or possible 2024 candidate—was necessary.

The affidavit, which was heavily redacted, was released on Aug. 26, suggesting the 45th president is being investigated because officials believed classified material was being kept at Mar-a-Lago.

Supporters of former U.S. President Donald Trump in West Palm Beach, Fla. drive around the Paul G. Rogers Federal Building & Courthouse as the court on Aug.18, 2022 holds a hearing to determine if the affidavit used by the FBI as justification for the raid of Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate should be unsealed. Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images

Department of Justice lawyers wrote that the “government is conducting a criminal investigation concerning the improper removal and storage of classified information in unauthorized spaces, as well as the unlawful concealment or removal of government records,” adding there is “probable cause to believe that evidence of obstruction will be found.”

Neither the affidavit, warrant, or property receipt have said what the FBI agents were trying to find or what exactly they took from Mar-a-Lago.

But the former president and a former top White House aide, Kash Patel, said Trump declassified those materials when he was president. Trump this month pointed to a Jan. 19, 2021, executive order he issued to declassify FBI Crossfire Hurricane materials, although it’s unclear if those were taken from Mar-a-Lago.

On Sunday, a former top FBI intelligence official, Kevin Brock, wrote that the bureau and Justice Department appear to have “no case” against Trump based on the few new details that were disclosed in the affidavit.

The legal document’s probable cause arguments just deal with “half of what is needed to show a possible violation of the federal statutes that are cited in the warrant,” Brock wrote in an opinion article.

“A criminal violation of those statutes only exists if it can be established that the person being investigated was not authorized to possess, store, transfer or copy those documents,” Brock said regarding rules around handling classified documents. “This is an easy element to establish against anyone in America. Except one person.”