Lindsey Olin Graham is a member of the Republican Party who has served as a United States Senator from South Carolina since 2003 and is the senior Senator from South Carolina since 2005.
His candidacy for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in the 2016 election began at an event in his hometown of Central, South Carolina. On December 21, 2015, Graham announced the suspension of his campaign.
Senator Graham, who is an influential member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told CNN:
- “We were told by the FBI in August that we were hacked in June”.
- “I do believe the Russians hacked into the [DNC]. I do believe they hacked into [John] Podesta’s email account. They hacked into my campaign account.”
- “All the information released publicly hurt Clinton and didn’t hurt Trump.”
- This is not “a Republican or Democratic issue” and must it should be tackled on a “bipartisan basis.”
- “We should tell the Russians that on no uncertain terms, you interfere in our elections, we don’t care why, we’re going to hit you and hit you hard, we’re going to introduce sanctions.
But he argued Hillary Clinton lost for other reasons:
“I think Hillary Clinton lost because she wasn’t an agent of change and she tried to disqualify Trump and she wasn’t able to do it.”