Sen. Lindsey Graham Speaks at Mar-a-Lago Dinner As Mueller Probe Ends

Committee chairman Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) speaks during a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, on March 12, 2019. Alex Wong/Getty Images

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) was the keynote speaker at a closed-door Republican fundraiser at Florida’s Mar-a-Lago on March 22, addressing a crowd hours after Special Counsel Robert Mueller filed his Russian investigation report with the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Also in attendance was President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, who made a brief appearance to hear Graham deliver his speech and to thank his supporters who attended the event.

“If Lindsey’s speaking, I want to come down here,” Trump said, according to a video posted to social media. “For two reasons. No. 1: he’s a great speaker. And No. 2, I know if I’m here, he’s not going to say anything bad about me.”

Although news surfaced about the end of the Mueller investigation, Trump did not make a comment about it, reported Politico, citing an attendee of the event. Neither did any of the other speakers.

“Nobody mentioned anything, other than all of us saw our phones and knew the report dropped,” one of the attendees told the news website.

In his speech, Graham gave a shout of to former Rep. Trey Gowdy and also recounted his relationship with the president.

“We found a lot in common. I like him and he likes him,” Graham said, referring to how his relationship with Trump evolved over time.

Also during his speech, Graham continued his calls for an investigation into Hillary Clinton and the alleged misconduct in the handling of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant process against Mr. Carter Page.

This prompted the crowd to enthusiastically chant “Lock her up,” according to a CNN reporter.

“A ‘lock her up’ chant broke out at Mar-a-Lago tonight during Sen. Graham’s speech as he called for an investigation into Clinton and the origins of the dossier. Trump watched on from a table in the ballroom,” Kevin Liptak wrote.

Graham has on numerous occasions called for the appointment of a new special counsel to investigate possible misconduct by the DOJ and the FBI.

“There are two questions that I think the public deserves an answer to: Did they short-circuit the Clinton e-mail investigation because they wanted her to win, and they knew if they charged her she might lose? Did they start the Russian investigation against Trump as an insurance policy in case he did win? Those are the two questions that I’ll try to get you answers to,” Graham told Fox News on March 13.

According to Politico, the president and his wife left the room soon after Graham’s speech ended.

Meanwhile, some of the guests posted photos of the evening on social media.

The fundraiser was hosted by the Palm Beach County Republican Party for their annual Lincoln Day Dinner.