Sen. Lindsey Graham has thrown his lot in with MAGA in a well-documented transition, departing from the America First MAGA platform only when he backs America’s support of Ukraine against the Russian invasion.
Graham doesn’t trust Russian leader Vladimir Putin, who has returned the South Carolina Senator’s enmity by having the Russian Ministry of the Interior issue an arrest warrant for Graham following his comments related to the fighting in Ukraine. (Among other things that apparently angered Putin, Graham said with some satisfaction that the “Russians are dying.”)
But as much as he distrusts Russia and disdains its legal threats, Graham seems just as distrustful of American law enforcement, to judge by his latest tweets.
Graham’s comments follow on former Attorney General Bill Barr‘s seeming to suggest that in order to squash accusations of favoritism at DOJ, current Attorney General Merrick Garland should release a disputed FBI document (the FD-1023 form) related to the alleged Biden bribery investigation.
In agreeing with Barr’s assertion, Graham mangles an iconic Reagan-era phrase he uses to express his consent. Forwarding an article about Barr’s idea, Graham writes “Given past conduct of DOJ and the FBI: Verify, don’t just trust.”
Given past conduct of DOJ and the FBI: Verify, don’t just trust.https://t.co/4qO55NjpiJ
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) June 20, 2023
That’s right: the South Carolina Senator and powerful member of the Appropriations Committee just cast aspersions on two of the most important law and order operations in the United States, the DOJ and FBI, scorning each for unspecified “past actions.” Then Graham specifically told his constituents not to trust the DOJ and FBI — “don’t just trust,” he wrote.
Graham’s phrasing is a twisted version of “Trust but verify,” the famous phrase Ronald Reagan used to describe how the U.S. would deal with nuclear disarmament agreements between the U.S. and Russia. Instead of “Trust but verify,” Graham’s version says “don’t trust” rather than “trust.”
(Interestingly, the phrase itself, “trust but verify,” is a Russian proverb — doveryai, no proveryai.)
It’s not clear that Barr is really advocating for further action from Garland anyway, only that he is acknowledging the AG’s sensitivity to the country’s political polarity could play a role in tamping down allegations of institutional distrust, however unlikely that result seems.
Barr said: “I know DOJ has a strong policy against sharing these raw reports, and for good reason. Any FBI director would have had [FBI Director] Wray’s reticence about turning it over, and I think he did his best to accommodate Chairman Comer… But the AG is ultimately in charge and should make the call how far to go here because of the unique situation.”
Graham’s innuendo is more open-ended. Don’t trust American law enforcement, he says, because it has a questionable past.
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