Latest / DEEP INSIGHT / Grahams sudden passing triggers BATTLE for open Senate seat

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Grahams sudden passing triggers BATTLE for open Senate seat · DEEP INSIGHT

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  Speaker 1: South Carolina Republican Cenator Lindsey Graham has died at age
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  Speaker 1: seventy one. The nation honoring his legacy, including his service
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  Speaker 1: and dedication to our military.
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  Speaker 2: I've served in the Air Force for thirty three years,
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  Speaker 2: and it has been a true pleasure and honor. I've
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  Speaker 2: spent much of my adult life as part of a
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  Speaker 2: team commended defending America, protecting our way of life, making
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  Speaker 2: sure that we're safe. Politicians focus on elections, the military
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  Speaker 2: focuses on the mission.
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  Speaker 1: Graham's sudden passing leaves an open Senate seat. He was
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  Speaker 1: up for reelection this fall. Our chief congressional Correspondence Bergram
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  Speaker 1: joins me now, Chad, Welcome, Mike.
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  Speaker 3: Good afternoon, sad day here on Capitol Hill.
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  Speaker 1: No doubt about it. I covered the hill with you
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  Speaker 1: for a decade. You've been up there for decades. What
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  Speaker 1: is your sense of Lindsey Graham's legacy on Capitol Hill.
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  Speaker 3: I'm struck by some of the bipartisan senators who have
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  Speaker 3: put out statements, many saying that they were just with
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  Speaker 3: him in Europe, you know, talking a couple of days ago.
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  Speaker 3: Jean Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate, Foreign Relations
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  Speaker 3: Committee from New Hampshire, Dick Durbin the Democratic whip, and
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  Speaker 3: again somebody who is in the middle of almost every
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  Speaker 3: single legislative battle, be it a foreign policy issue, sometimes
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  Speaker 3: advocating for President Trump, sometimes advocating against President Trump. He
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  Speaker 3: certainly had his differences from time to time there. You know,
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  Speaker 3: I talked earlier this morning about back in the administration
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  Speaker 3: of President George W. Bush trying to do the privatization,
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  Speaker 3: the partial privatization of Social Security. It was Lindsay Graham's bill.
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  Speaker 3: You know, he was He always knew where the power
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  Speaker 3: centers were going to be and always made sure he
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  Speaker 3: was in the middle of those fights.
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  Speaker 1: If there was a gang of eight, you could count
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  Speaker 1: on Graham to be in the middle of it, or
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  Speaker 1: a gang of.
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  Speaker 3: Whatever, gang of fourteen, that's right, a deal, right, gangs
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  Speaker 3: of the Senate. Yeah, that was his thing. And he
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  Speaker 3: had this gang of three, you know, he was, you know,
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  Speaker 3: along with John McCain, you know, trying to work out
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  Speaker 3: you know, foreign policy issue. Kelly Ayott, the former Senator
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  Speaker 3: from New Hampshire, was part of that. You know, he
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  Speaker 3: was key in that immigration build never saw the light
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  Speaker 3: of day in the House of Representatives. But moving that
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  Speaker 3: through the Senate, it passed with you almost seventy votes.
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  Speaker 3: You know some years ago.
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  Speaker 1: Graham was up for reelection this year, what are your
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  Speaker 1: thoughts on an immediate replacement.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, this is going to get very tricky because you
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  Speaker 3: cannot appoint to the House. Why do I bring up
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  Speaker 3: the House of Representatives. Well, you have a couple of
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  Speaker 3: folks there who might be interested in the seat. Joe Wilson,
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  Speaker 3: the Republican congressman from South Carolina. He's already indicated in
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  Speaker 3: just the past couple of hours he said, I will
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  Speaker 3: stay in the House to protect that narrow margin. It's
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  Speaker 3: about the math. Somebody like Nancy Mays, who ran unsuccessfully
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  Speaker 3: for the Republican nomination for governor, she's already indicated that
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  Speaker 3: she might want to get in. I would certainly look
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  Speaker 3: at the Lieutenant governor, Pamela Evett, you.
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  Speaker 1: Know who lost.
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  Speaker 3: You know, she was somebody who President Trump had supported.
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  Speaker 3: But if you take somebody from the House, then you
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  Speaker 3: hurt that mathematical equation over there. Now, what you could
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  Speaker 3: do is a point a caretaker senator. We have somebody
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  Speaker 3: right now who is just that from Oklahoma. Alan Armstrong,
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  Speaker 3: the Senator from Oklahoma because Mark Wayne Mullen became the
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  Speaker 3: Homeland Security Secretary, and then have somebody run in a primary.
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  Speaker 3: They're going to have a snap lightning primary here in
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  Speaker 3: about four weeks, and then whoever that nominee is, if
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  Speaker 3: they win in November, then they would serve out the
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  Speaker 3: balance of that term come January.
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  Speaker 1: How a process play out? Do we shift our eyes
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  Speaker 1: to Governor Henry McMaster to see what his next play
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  Speaker 1: is about, whether it's a caretaker and who throws their
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  Speaker 1: hat in the rank potentially for the longer term solution.
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  Speaker 3: It's going to be up to him ultimately, because you
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  Speaker 3: can appoint to the Senate. But here's the other issue,
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  Speaker 3: President Trump. You know, who does he want? Do they
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  Speaker 3: want the same person who they appoint in the interim
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  Speaker 3: here to also be the same person running Again, I
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  Speaker 3: talked about Nancy Mace Ralph Norman, a Republican representaer from
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  Speaker 3: South Carolina. He is also he was also running for governor.
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  Speaker 3: Didn't get through the primary. And again, you know, he
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  Speaker 3: and Nancy Mace have had rather fraught relations with President Trump.
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  Speaker 3: So you know, could they possibly the people? I don't know,
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  Speaker 3: And that's why a lot of people look at maybe
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  Speaker 3: a familivet or maybe Russell Fry, the Republican representative from
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  Speaker 3: South Carolina.
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  Speaker 1: I want to shure our audience of statement from former
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  Speaker 1: President Joe Biden. I'll get you to react to it.
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  Speaker 1: He's saying, Jill and I are shocked by the sudden
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  Speaker 1: passing of Lindsay Graham. Lindsay and I served together in
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  Speaker 1: Congress for over a decade, and we're closely on many issues.
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  Speaker 1: Throughout the years we traveled the world together as members
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  Speaker 1: of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. We disagreed often and
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  Speaker 1: sometimes loudly. Lindsay and I did agree on the profound
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  Speaker 1: importance of public service. Like me, he loved the Senate
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  Speaker 1: as an institution, even with all its flaws and complexities,
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  Speaker 1: to his family, his staff, his constituents in South Carolina,
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  Speaker 1: and everyone who loved him. Jill and I are keeping
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  Speaker 1: you in our prayers.
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  Speaker 3: Chad.
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  Speaker 1: There's a lot there in terms of his ability to
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  Speaker 1: work with the other side, and even when they disagreed,
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  Speaker 1: not necessarily being disagreeable.
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  Speaker 2: Right.
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  Speaker 3: He said something interesting there. You know, Joe Biden, when
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  Speaker 3: he served in the Senate had been the chairman or
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  Speaker 3: ranking numbers of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. What does
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  Speaker 3: that entail? A lot of what we call codels, Congressional
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  Speaker 3: delegations traveling abroad. That's where you really get to know
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  Speaker 3: people because you're spending hours and hours on planes and
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  Speaker 3: visiting foreign capitals and meeting with foreign dignitaries. He and
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  Speaker 3: Joe Biden certainly spent a lot of time together in
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  Speaker 3: that respect, and that's how you really kind of understand
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  Speaker 3: what somebody is, you know, metal is like. And there
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  Speaker 3: was a good relationship there, at least, you know, professional relationship.
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  Speaker 3: They had worked together on some issues, clashed in other respects,
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  Speaker 3: that's for sure, certainly about the border and when President
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  Speaker 3: Biden was in office. I think it's just ironic that
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  Speaker 3: this came right as Lindsay Graham had returned from the
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  Speaker 3: summit in Europe and then went with some others, you know,
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  Speaker 3: to Ukraine and met with Vadimere Zelensky, and then he
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  Speaker 3: comes back to Washington and passes away one of those codels.
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  Speaker 1: Covering Capitol Hill. I spent a lot of time chasing
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  Speaker 1: lawmakers throughout the hallways, staking them out. What was Lindsey
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  Speaker 1: Graham like.
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  Speaker 3: Off cameragead Yeah, you know, it's funny that sometimes he
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  Speaker 3: was so involved in so many issues. He was always rushing,
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  Speaker 3: and you know, he was very good with the press,
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  Speaker 3: sometimes giving you information frankly off the record, but sometimes
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  Speaker 3: chatting with you in the hall or there's a bank
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  Speaker 3: of camera sometimes down there. The last time I encountered
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  Speaker 3: him was just before the recess, and you know, we
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  Speaker 3: were trying to figure out what they were going to
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  Speaker 3: do next on Iran, and I happened to see him
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  Speaker 3: come out of the north door of the Capitol and
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  Speaker 3: he was going to a vehicle there. In fact, he
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  Speaker 3: went to the wrong door to get in the car,
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  Speaker 3: and I kind of chased him around and he just said,
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  Speaker 3: I don't have time, and he got in the car,
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  Speaker 3: in the car zipped down. That's the last time I
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  Speaker 3: saw him. But that was kind of a demonstrative of
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  Speaker 3: Lindsay gram always going back and forth from somewhere.
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  Speaker 1: You know.
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  Speaker 3: I spent several weeks this winter there was a story
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  Speaker 3: about telecommunications policy that I was working on, and because
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  Speaker 3: he was so involved in Iran that was gurgling at
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  Speaker 3: that stage and other issues, he didn't have the time
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  Speaker 3: to do the inn. We finally got it and we
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  Speaker 3: did the story but it took a little bit of time.
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  Speaker 1: As you mentioned, he found himself in the middle of
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  Speaker 1: so many big issues over the years in the Senate
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  Speaker 1: and on Capitol Hill. Remember what about his humor, his
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  Speaker 1: ability to kind of cut the tension of a really
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  Speaker 1: tense moment, a really tense fight on the hill, and
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  Speaker 1: his ability to have a quip or something funny to
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  Speaker 1: say that could make everybody relax for a moment.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: Well, reporters liked him because he was always pretty good
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  Speaker 3: for a SoundBite, that's the first thing. But his sound
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  Speaker 3: bites had substance behind them because it reflected his position
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  Speaker 3: or the position of the party, or you know, speaking
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  Speaker 3: truth to the party. Like, guys, you know, we're not
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  Speaker 3: on the right page on this. And I think when
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  Speaker 3: you talk about that humor. I talked to one of
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  Speaker 3: his former ages this morning and indicated that, you know,
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  Speaker 3: he was very disarming. He could go into a room
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  Speaker 3: of people in South Carolina who were very upset with
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  Speaker 3: him about something and they said he probably could have
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  Speaker 3: been a stand up comedian because he could do that.
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  Speaker 3: He did that certainly with some of his Senate colleagues
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  Speaker 3: from time to time. And you know, when you have
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  Speaker 3: those relationships with people, and you can cut through with
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  Speaker 3: that humor and make people laugh, then everybody's like, Okay,
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  Speaker 3: we're all human. And that's probably why it partly worked
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  Speaker 3: for Lindsay Grant. That's why he probably was able to
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  Speaker 3: go back and forth so many different times with not
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  Speaker 3: supporting President Trump, becoming his best ally, not supporting President
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  Speaker 3: Trump after the riot, going back to being his best
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  Speaker 3: ally advocating for the attacks on run. That shows you
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  Speaker 3: this kind of chameleon in a good way approach that
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  Speaker 3: he took to his job in the South.
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  Speaker 1: Chad Pergram, great to have you, Sorry for the circumstances,
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  Speaker 1: and we'll visit with you again next hour.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you, absolutely, thank you mine. Be sure to like
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