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Filmmaker shares rare footage of Lindsey Graham · THE DAILY BRIEF

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to that take. I welcome to the Conversation Corner.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Documentary filmmaker Alex Holder, who spent the last few years
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: following Lindsay Graham, sharing with US and others behind the
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  Speaker 1: scenes videos of his time recording the late South Carolina
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  Speaker 1: Republican Centator. Here is one of them, showing Graham on
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  Speaker 1: a call with Israeli Prime Minister d'atignell.
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  Speaker 2: Hey, Bb, Lindsay, I couldn't. I'm just so impressed, glad
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: to be your friend.
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  Speaker 3: You are friend.
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  Speaker 2: I'm going to meet with the President this weekend. I'm
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: going down to Durrl. I'm going to try to get
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  Speaker 2: him to join with y'all in Lebanon to maybe fly
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  Speaker 2: some with you.
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  Speaker 1: I'm joining out by Alex Holder for more on his
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  Speaker 1: time filming with Senator Graham. And Alex heard about the tavern,
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  Speaker 1: said hey, can I have a drink in the conversation corner?
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: I said, Alex, of course, you can have a drink
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  Speaker 1: in the conversation corner, So drink.
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  Speaker 3: Up, enjoy it.
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  Speaker 1: I want to play for my audience another sound bite
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  Speaker 1: which I think is really important. It's right after the
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  Speaker 1: US Israeli war on Iran is law, and here's Graham
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  Speaker 1: and you're with him.
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  Speaker 3: Let's play it. We've done it.
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  Speaker 2: I almost cried, Yeah, I mean, like, how long have
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  Speaker 2: we been pushing this?
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  Speaker 3: I mean, you've been pushing this for years?
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  Speaker 2: Is here?
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  Speaker 3: I thought, Trump this born Jack.
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  Speaker 2: He's the best thing I've ever done.
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  Speaker 3: He loves wall and stuff up.
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  Speaker 2: So you know, there are a lot of people inside
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  Speaker 2: didn't want to do it. So I've had my challenges.
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  Speaker 1: What does that encounter there tell you?
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  Speaker 3: It was a pretty extraordinary moment.
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  Speaker 4: I mean the access that we got on this project
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  Speaker 4: was unparalleled. And you know, there'll be days we will
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  Speaker 4: be in his office filming and not many things will happen,
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  Speaker 4: and then on some days we'll get a moment where
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  Speaker 4: he is getting a phone call from the is ready
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  Speaker 4: Prime Minister or remarking on you know, the initial bombing
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  Speaker 4: campaign against Iran. This was the culmination of basically, I
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  Speaker 4: mean decades of him wishing to in his words, eradicate
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  Speaker 4: the Mothership of terror. I mean, he was really pushing
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  Speaker 4: on this Iran campaign. And you know Trump then launched
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  Speaker 4: this this these bombing strikes, and you know, Senator Graham
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  Speaker 4: was very very overjoyed.
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  Speaker 1: I say, and I want to play something that also
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  Speaker 1: comes from your behind the scenes access, where in this
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  Speaker 1: moment of confronting Iran, Graham compares Trump and bb NET
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  Speaker 1: and Yahoo.
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  Speaker 3: To other historical figures. Let's listen.
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  Speaker 2: I said last last night that Trump and bb are
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  Speaker 2: like Roosevelt and Churchill. I mean, they're the right to
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  Speaker 2: guys to confront this evil alex.
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  Speaker 1: That suggests that Graham perceived that this ultimately would relate
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  Speaker 1: would result in the defeat of Iran.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's not where we are now.
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  Speaker 1: And there were times, I understand we expressed some misgivings
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  Speaker 1: to you about directionality of where this was all heading.
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  Speaker 4: Absolutely, yeah, I mean he really was very gung ho
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  Speaker 4: at the start. He thought that President Trump was going
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  Speaker 4: to prosecute this war in line with his thinking, are
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  Speaker 4: you Senator Graham's thinking.
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  Speaker 3: I meaning regime change? Absolutely yeah, regime change. You know,
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  Speaker 3: it will all be what was of.
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  Speaker 1: The Iranian Revolutionary Guard and remake Iran thereby remake the region.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: Absolutely, And it was all going to take about three
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  Speaker 4: weeks or so in his estimation.
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  Speaker 3: Obviously that hasn't been the case.
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  Speaker 4: He was getting very frustrated with the way the war
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  Speaker 4: was being prosecuted by President Trump, and he was pushing back,
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  Speaker 4: I think against a lot of others in the in
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  Speaker 4: the administration that were cautioning, you know, to pause or
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  Speaker 4: to allow the diplomatic efforts to work out. So yeah,
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  Speaker 4: he was struggling with that over the few weeks once
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  Speaker 4: the war started.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, what's your takeaway of who Lindsey Graham was based
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  Speaker 1: on all this close up observation.
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  Speaker 4: I think, look, we were with him for four and
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  Speaker 4: a half years, so there was, you know, a real
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  Speaker 4: broad amount of geopolitical events that were taking place during
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  Speaker 4: this time, Ukraine, Russia, the Israel Gaza War. You know,
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  Speaker 4: he was trying to build a piece deal between Israel
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  Speaker 4: and Saudi Arabia, and then obviously the Iram War itself.
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  Speaker 4: I think he had a enormous impact in geopolitical issues,
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  Speaker 4: far more than people actually think. I think in some
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  Speaker 4: respects what this documentary will show it will prove the
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  Speaker 4: oversized impact that he had. It will also show the
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  Speaker 4: enormous respect that world leaders had with him. You know,
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  Speaker 4: I was in the room with him and the Crown
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  Speaker 4: Prince of Saudi Arabia and you see the deference that
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  Speaker 4: the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia has to a US senator,
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  Speaker 4: specifically Lindsay Graham, which was fascinating to see and I
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  Speaker 4: think in some respects he also didn't realize or sometimes
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  Speaker 4: he would say how he doesn't really understand why he
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  Speaker 4: gets that kind of respect. You know, he's the centator
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  Speaker 4: from South Carolina. But he did build these relationships over
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  Speaker 4: a period of time. So he was a very very consequential, complicated,
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  Speaker 4: controversial plant and very quick.
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  Speaker 1: It wasn't just because he was good friends with Trump.
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  Speaker 1: Great is something on his own?
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  Speaker 4: Oh yeah, he did stuff under the Biden administration.
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  Speaker 3: As well, Alex Holder. Great.
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  Speaker 1: Great to have you with the important stuff. I appreciate
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  Speaker 1: you sharing them with us. Please enjoy the scotch.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you very much,