The Daily Signal - #320: Sen. Lindsey Graham Speaks Out on 'Character Assassination' of Kavanaugh

Episode Date: October 17, 2018

When things got ugly for Brett Kavanaugh, Lindsey Graham was one of his most forceful defenders. The South Carolina senator sat down to share his thinking with our editor-in-chief Rob Bluey. The interview took place at President’s Club, an annual gathering hosted by The Heritage Foundation -- we’ll play it for you in this episode. Plus: We’ll take a look at the trick-or-treating and how some localities are banning teenagers from participating.We also cover these stories:--The Trump administration announced it has saved $23 billion by cutting and modifying regulations in fiscal year 2018.--Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell spoke about the importance of entitlement reform.--House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi announced her agenda if Democrats gain control of the House.--Since President Trump stopped separating families who arrive at the border, the number of adults with kids crossing the borders has skyrocketed.The Daily Signal podcast is available on Ricochet, iTunes, SoundCloud, Google Play, or Stitcher. All of our podcasts can be found at DailySignal.com/podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave a review. You can also leave us a message at 202-608-6205 or write us at [e-mail]. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Get the yes you've been waiting for at Capital One.ca.ca. slash yes. Terms and conditions apply. This is the Daily Signal podcast for Thursday, October 18th. I'm Kate Trinco. And I'm Daniel Davis. Well, when things got ugly for Brett Kavanaugh, Lindsay Graham was one of his most forceful defenders. The South Carolina Senator sat down to share his thinking with our editor-in-chief, Rob Blewey. That interview took place at Presidents Club, an annual gathering hosted by the Heritage Foundation, and we'll play it for you in this episode. Plus, we'll take a look at trick-or-treating in how some localities are banning teenagers from participating. But first, we'll cover a few of the top headlines.

Well, President Trump is making good on his promise to cut red tape. His administration announced on Wednesday it had saved $23 billion in cutting and modifying regulations in fiscal year 2018. During that period, the administration cut 12 regulations for every new significant regulation added, and in total, it's removed 176 regulations. These cuts add up to a total of $33 billion in regulatory cost savings for the economy since the president first took office. Now, by contrast, during one year, the Obama administration imposed a net $245 billion in regulatory costs. And President Trump is looking to slash more in government spending, he announced Wednesday. In a little while, and we're going to ask every secretary to cut 5%.

for next year. That, of course, would be cabinet secretaries. Well, the controversy over the missing Saudi journalist continues, as new leaks suggest that Jamal Khashoggi was murdered. Those reports, however, have not yet been corroborated, and Saudi Arabia has denied any wrongdoing. Jamal Khashoggi was a Washington Post columnist who disappeared on October 2nd after walking into the Saudi embassy in Istanbul, Turkey.

The Turkish government claims to have audio and video evidence showing what happened, and President Trump has requested that evidence. We have asked for this audio, video, intelligence that it turns. We have asked for it if it exists. We have asked for it if it exists. Are you surprised that they haven't turned it over? No, I'm not sure yet that it exists. Probably does, possibly does. I'll have a full report on that from Mike when he comes back. As another migrant caravan heads to the United States, President Trump is taking to Twitter,

saying Wednesday, quote, hard to believe that with thousands of people from south of the border walking unimpeded toward our country in the form of large caravans, that the Democrats won't approve legislation that will allow laws for the protection of our country. On Tuesday night, Trump suggested that there would be ramifications for countries the caravan passed through, writing his administration had, quote, informed the countries of Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador that if they allow their citizens or others to journey through their borders and up to the United States with the intention of entering our country illegally, all payments made to them will stop, and in case that wasn't clear, end.

Well, the U.S. continues to pile up huge deficits despite the roaring economy. This past year, the government ran up $779 billion in debt. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Bloomberg that the situation would get better if both parties would focus on entitlement reform. It's very disturbing, and it's driven by the three big entitlement programs that are very popular, Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid. That's 70% of what we spend every year. The subject we were just discussing, the funding of the government,

is about 30% of what we spent. There's been a bipartisan reluctance to tackle entitlement changes because of the popularity of those programs. Hopefully, at some point here, we'll get. get serious about this. We haven't been yet. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is ready if she returns to being House majority leader. The Associated Press summed up her remarks about her agenda as, quote, lowering health care costs, rebuilding infrastructure and running the House chamber with more transparency, and openness are near the top of the Democratic agenda, Pelosi said during a

talk Tuesday. Democrats would also prioritize giving legal status to young immigrants known as streamers and strengthening background checks on gun purchases, she said, end quote. You know, her saying she's ready reminds me of what Hillary Clinton said, like a couple years before she didn't win. Did she say she was ready? Yeah, she was launching stuff that said, I'm ready. Ready? Actually, I don't think Pelosi used the word ready.

That might have been me. Oh, but. Well, the U.S. is back to number one, economically speaking. That's according to the new World Economic Forum rankings that say the United States has the most competitive economy in the world. It's the first time the U.S. has claimed that spot in 10 years, but the report warned that a brewing trade war with China could threaten America's economic progress. Since President Trump stops separating families who arrive at the border, the number of adults with kids crossing the border has skyrocketed. The Washington Post reports that, quote,

border patrol agents arrested 16,658 family members in September, the highest one-month month total on record and an 80% increase from July. That's according to unpublished Department of Homeland Security statistics. Well, up next, newly minted Republican celebrity, Lindsay Graham, shares his thoughts on the Kavanaugh confirmation battle. I'm Rob Blewey, editor-in-chief of The Daily Signal. And I'm Jenny Malta Bono. Each weekday, the Daily Signal delivers the Morning Bell email direct to your inbox. We created the Morning Bell to be your one-stop source for credible news reporting and insightful commentary on the issues that are shaping the agenda. You can subscribe today and get it delivered to your inbox each weekday morning. Sign up now at daily signal.com. Just click on the connect button

at the top of the page and subscribe today. Senator Lindsay Graham, thanks for joining the Daily Signal. Thanks for having me. You are here at the Heritage Foundation's Presidents Club meeting to talk about Justice Kavanaugh. Right. And you during the Judiciary Committee hearings gave some passionate remarks in the moment when he was defending himself. And I want to start by asking you about this, because for many people, they felt it was, he wasn't getting forward to due process, he was presumed guilty before he was innocent.

What prompted you to speak so passionately? He was being humiliated. So I voted for Sotomay and Kagan, because I thought they were qualified. It used to be that way. Strom Thurman voted for Ginsburg. Fritz Holling voted for Scalia. That's the way it used to be.

So obviously things have changed now. So what got me going so much is that I've known Brett for 20 years. We're not close friends, but we're friendly. I work with him in the Bush White House. He's the cream of the crop, judicially. You want to reward President Trump when he makes a good decision. He could not have chosen better.

And what I saw was an effort to humiliate a guy who didn't deserve it. I can't imagine me doing that to Sotomayr and Kagan. And what got me the most was, if you're really innocent, turn to Don McGahn and ask to continue the FBI investigation of your life and keep ruining your own family. Dr. Ford was listened to respectfully. I think something happened to her, but I don't think Kavanaugh had anything to do with it. And it was just an effort to destroy a good man for political purposes, and I hope it backfires on them. Well, it's one of those situations where, as you've noted, you have supported President Obama's nominees in the past.

I mean, you even had Ruth Bader Ginsburg lamenting the state of the confirmation process for Supreme Court justices. Where do we go from here? Because obviously you have, I think, 118 vacancies on federal courts. Are you going to be able to confirm these nominees? Well, Mitch McConnell has done a fantastic job. We've done a lot with 51 votes. We've got one Democratic vote for Judge Kavanaugh, just a handful for Justice Korsick. Bottom line is, if this is not bottom, I'd hate to see it.

I hope this blows up in their face politically. These red state Democrats had to choose between the mob and decency. I think they're in trouble. So I hope we have far more than 51. There may be more vacancies coming up sooner rather than later, only God knows. Justice Thomas is a great guy. He's in his 70s. I don't know what his plans are, but I know this,

that President Trump has chosen too highly qualified, nominees that are going to change the court over time. And we don't want to run good people off from being judges. And here's the question for you and anybody else. After what you saw, would you want to be a judge? Well, you posed that question, I believe, during the committee hearing, you said if Republicans voted against Justice Kavanaugh... You're legitimizing a complete character assassination.

And you would have other people who wouldn't want to serve in public or step up into that situation. Number one, you're rewarding them. just put the shoe on the other foot. Let's say this is a male Democratic nominee, and someone like Dr. Ford came to South Carolina and gave me information about a 36-year-old allegation. I withheld it from the committee, never confronted the nominee with it. I recommended a conservative lawyer who never told the woman that the Democrats would be willing to come to South Carolina to avoid having to come to Washington. And somebody on my staff, leaked her information, betrayed her request to be anonymous, we'd be killed.

And somebody on our side said, well, we're only doing this to hold open the seat so that we can get back the Senate and maybe a Republican can fill the seat. If the shoe were on the other foot, the media would be going nuts. So there's two things I learned here. I end the tank the media really is for the liberal causes and how far the left will go. and I hope it backfires. Well, now, we've also seen quite an enthusiasm among Republicans now and conservatives because I think of exactly what you're describing.

What have you seen back in your home state of South Carolina? I can't walk five feet at home. I mean, I get some criticism, but Republican women are very energized. You know, Dr. Ford, I think something did happen, but you have to corroborate an allegation. The accusation can't be the proof itself. And, you know, really, there was nothing. there. Everything that Dr. Ford said, nobody could corroborate. And the bottom line is that Judge Kavanaugh has led an exemplary life. Everything goes against these accusations. And the Abenotti

claim was just sort of just the, you know, the dam breaking. But the bottom line is the response back home has been incredible. If you had a made a bid, they have somebody to come up with a plan to get Sean Hannity to raise money for Susan Collins on the radio, nobody could have thought of this. So Susan Collins did a fantastic job of explaining why a rational person would vote for Judge Kavanaugh. So this has taken libertarians, vegetarians, Trump Republicans, Bush Republicans, were all united because of what they did to Brett Kavanaugh, and this is a good time for the Republican Party.

Well, at the same time, you're seeing a lot of enthusiasm and support, you also saw Jeff Flake confronted in an elevator, Susan Collins being called a rape apologist, some terrible things happening to your colleagues. How are they taking it personally and handling it? Susan Collins is tough as nails. She methodically went through the Democratic reaction to the nomination. They were against Kavanaugh for they even knew who he was.

And she went through his history of being a judge, how mainstream he is, the allegations. And I thought she handled the serf beautifully. Jeff's Flake wanted to know more, and we worked as a team to have a supplemental, the seventh investigation that confirmed, that helped Kavanaugh. So I appreciate Jeff and I appreciate Susan for taking their job seriously, and we gave them the space they needed to get the yes. And the bottom line is I've been here for over 20 years, and I've never seen anything like it.

The animosity, the choice now is not about an issue. It's about an attitude. on the ballot in 2018 is an attitude. Who are where is the country? Do we really believe in the rule of law? Are we just so angry that mob rule will take over the rule of law? That's what's on the ballot. As a member of the Judiciary Committee, you know the Senate's role of advice and consent very well. You have confirmed 84 of President Trump's judicial nominees, 20-some circuit court nominees, including two Supreme Court justices. How significant is that for our federal courts? generational change. Senator Grassley's done a marvelous job. He's not a lawyer, but he's fair-minded.

I think he's tough, but fair. And I think that came through. Mitch McConnell's been strategic in his thinking. And I'm really proud of our 51-seat Republican majority. Many times it was just 50. We've done a lot. Harry Reid made this possible. He's the one that changed the rules. You know, I was in the gang of 14 when they filibustered all the Bush nominees to stop filibustering judges unless there's an extraordinary circumfirm. The Senate used to didn't do this. Most Supreme Court nominees were voted on without a hearing. Things have changed. Bork started it and it's just gotten worse. So the bottom line, I got a call from Senator Schumer the night before they changed the rules in 2013. I said, you'll regret this. Because his Harry Reid's desire to pack the circuit court that led to this. And I just hope we don't

run good people away from serving. I hope we get north of 55 senators. The Kavanaugh effect is real. this election before Kavanaugh, and there's election after the Kavanaugh. I want to ask you about two other issues. The first is Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashugi. You've been outspoken on this. Where do we stand right now, and what are you hoping to do in the Senate? Well, I'm hoping to make them pay a price. I've been the leading advocate for this relationship. I was on the floor making sure we didn't stop arms sales to fight Iran's proxies in Yemen. I've been on the floor to make sure that the 9-11 lawsuits wouldn't taint the relationship. I have supported the Saudi partnership.

I've never felt so betrayed. So MBS is 33 years old, and he's a wrecking ball. They kidnapped the Lebanese prime minister for a while. They imposed in a bar gar of gutter overnight without talking to us. He talks about a vision of 2030. Then he throws everybody in jail. he doesn't like. I'm convinced that this happened at the direction of the Saudi government, that teams of assassins were sent to the consulate, every norm that we believe in, which is

freedom of expression, journalism, free speech, you know, independent press, extrajudicial killings, all that was ignored. It shows contempt for us as a partner. And President Trump may not see it this way, but it shows a lot of disrespect to him. Name one president that's been better to Saudi Arabia. So to hatch this plot, and I am a lawyer, I believe in the rule of law, but all the corroboration is there if you want to see it, the way that the NBS was behaving before these people showing up right before the event, luring the guy in for a week. He walks in and never comes out, and they lie about what happened the first time around. Yeah, I'm really convinced that this was an extrajudicial killing of a dissident. And we deal with bad people all the time, but when you put it in our face like

this, I hope we respond. We'll be following closely. And finally, I want to ask you, your colleague from Massachusetts has come out with her DNA results. You have said yourself that you're willing to take. I'm not so sure I would have done that. Are you going to take a DNA? I'm taking one. You know, I've been told, and I don't know if it's true or not, that my grandmother was part Cherokee Indian. I'm going to find out. So the bottom line here is that I've traveled with Warren. She can be very gracious.

I don't like her political philosophy domestically. She visited the troops during the holidays. I appreciate that. But if the shoe were on the other foot, again, if a conservative had been doing this saying that I'm a member of an Indian tribe, and academia was selling us, we'd be getting killed. So, you know, we'll have a little fun with this. This is politics. I don't mean to be mean-spirited.

But I can tell you this, if you're less than one-tenth of one percent of anything, you need to be careful about what you say. Well, Senator Graham, thanks so much for speaking to The Daily Signal. Thank you. All right. Do conversations about the Supreme Court leave you scratching your head? Then subscribe to SCOTUS 101, a podcast breaking down the cases, personalities, and gossip. at the Supreme Court.

The town of Chesapeake, Virginia is not messing around when it comes to trick or treaters. Quote, if any person over the age of 12 years shall engage in the activity commonly known as, quote, trick or treat, or any other activity of similar character or nature under any name whatsoever, he or she shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine of not less than $25, nor more than $100, or this is insane by confinement in jail for not more than six months or both. This also applies if anyone in the town of Chesapeake, Virginia, dares to go trick-or-treating after 8 p.m. With slightly different punishments, but jail and fines are both on it.

So joining us today is our, I don't know, video guru, scholar of movies. I need to stop making up titles. Today it's a resident-comodging. Yeah. So Michael is a dad. and he has some very strong feelings about teenagers trick-or-treating. Okay. All right.

So let me tell you why this punishment is not harsh enough. Okay. So I honestly think that there should be an absolute cut-off for trick-or-treating. And that cut-off is around 12 or maybe 13 on a good day for me. Because honestly, every single year around 8.30 or so, you get the inevitable wrap at the door. My lights are off. The Jack of a lantern has been extinguished. At 8.30.

At 8. Yeah, I think... You are the resident cremuchin. I think 830 is at a very appropriate time because 830 is an appropriate time for children to be back at home. Children, which is what the holiday of Halloween is catered towards. No 10-year-old goes to bed at 830. That's fine, but they need to be at home letting their parents sort through their candy. Now, I'm not... I know I sound a little old-fashioned in this regard, so I apologize for that, but what I won't apologize for is this.

The fact that a 13-year-old boy, or let's just call them what they are, teens at that point or teenagers. They should not be out gallanting around in costumes because, honestly, you come to my door with a beard thicker than mine. You're not getting a piece of candy. You're going to get the boot. You're going to get turned around very politely and say, you know, go home. I love Halloween.

I love Halloween. I can tell. You're hard pressed to find somebody who absolutely has a genuine love for Halloween. Ask any of the people on this floor that I constantly annoy with my Halloween movies. and all of that jazz. My point is this. Halloween is meant for kids to have fun. What I don't want to see is a bunch of kids

in a haphazard mummy costume, which is really just some toilet paper draped. Hey, that takes work and effort. I think that there's a cutoff. Give me your reasoning as to why there should be apparently no cutoff. Well, I mean, Daniel is floating outrageous ideas. There's no cutoff, so I'm going to let him. I mean, no, I think that's fine to say, yeah,

culturally, this should not be a thing. But for the town to actually fine you for it, that don't get that. Well, yeah, I agree that it's ridiculous, that it's a lot. I mean, why the fine? Just because it's weird? It is weird. Or because it's a disturbance, a nuisance? It is inappropriate for kids of that age to be out trick or treating.

Now, I offer alternatives. What you should be doing is going to Halloween parties. You should be dressing up at these kind of things. Now, my wife is a very different opinion on this. She is a middle school teacher. and we got into it on Monday because she was sitting there thinking like, okay, Michael, if they're coming to your door looking for a Mars bar at 830, it means that they're not out doing bad things that teenagers shouldn't be doing.

And I said, Kelly, I... That's a legit point. It's a legit point, and I agree with her. Except you don't. Except I don't. Because they can go to Halloween parties, as I did. I mean, there are Halloween costume parties, and I think they're a great time. But what you're not doing is annoying me when I'm clearly going ready to...

8.30 you said? 8 o'clock is the cutoff. They're not messing around. 801 and you could face jail time. Should be earlier. Okay, that's red. I don't even get home from work half the time. Like, that's insane.

Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I'm not really a huge advocate of teenagers trick-or-treating, it seems. Like maybe the city doesn't need to get involved. But I don't know. That's actually, I like your wife's point, though, about like if they're trick-or-treating, it's, you know, they're not drinking booze. or something at some sketch Halloween party. All right, well, let's take out the annoyance factor out of it and say that, all right,

not all of them across the board teenagers are out doing bad things on Halloween, but pumpkin smashing, egging of houses, T-Ping of people's houses. This is a pastime that people have been doing. And you're hard pressed to find somebody, you know, 10 years of age or younger to be doing those things. It's teenagers usually out just doing common mischief on Halloween. I get that that's a certainty. But at the end of the day, I think that there should be an age cutoff.

Is the city kind of doing this a little bit too with an iron fist a little bit? But I see there a point. I mean, Halloween and Tricker's Reading is meant for kids. Do you remember what age you stopped Trigger's reading? Yeah, it's like 10. 10? Yeah. I can't remember exactly when I did.

I guess I stopped around 12. I hit double digits and I hung up my bat suit, guys. I knew. But the question is. do you now still go to adult Halloween costume parties? We did last year. It's hard with a baby. Are you going to dress up?

Oh my gosh. Are you going to have a family costume? Well, yes. Can you tell us? Or is that like top secret? Oh, it's not top secret. My wife hates it. I am going to be Michael Myers as I answer the door because that's what I do.

I answer the door. And I am in full Halloween. You're not going out with the baby? No, because I don't want my house egg. I don't want, you know, I mean, you've seen the... You've seen very traumatized by this. No, no, no, no. This actually never happened, but I always knew that, like, you know, you come across the house with the lights off and they have this bowl of candy that, you know, let's be honest, the first 10 kids just absolutely demolished that bowl of candy. Not their mother is over their shoulders being like, don't take more than one piece.

And how many, I never see moms out with the kids of that age. The kids that are all out doing the things that they shouldn't be doing on Halloween's are never, you know, chaperoned by adults. They're out doing their own thing. And that's what I have a problem with. They're out doing their own thing on Halloween. So what did you dress up as last year? Oh, Indiana Jones, of course. Wow.

Yes. Well, that's, okay, how do you feel about scaring children who come to your door? Don't like that. You don't like that. Don't like that. That's why I am having second thoughts about this Michael Myers thing. So you don't think they're asking for it? You, oh, you.

No, they're asking for treats. They're asking for games. Yeah, but they also know it's Halloween and they also know that sometimes parents are scare them. I remember like one time going up to house when I had someone hidden like under a table who like jumped out as like a skeleton or something. Oh my gosh. I was a kid. I thought that stuff was great. I didn't necessarily want to be the first one to walk up there. But I thought it was great. No, I'm not all about scaring kids. You're not. All right. So you're right. Well, I think it's I think this whole like trick or treating, no matter what age you are, it's good for building community because you, you know, you're spending time with your neighbors and getting to know them. And get to know them. No, I think that's really true. And I think one of the interesting things is I grew up in a block that I guess was somewhat unusual or beginning to be unusual where we knew all our immediate neighbors and played with the kids. But like we didn't know anyone further up in the block. And I remember being so fascinated by who they were every Halloween and curious.

And like I wanted to see as much of their house from their front door as I could, super nosy. But yeah, I think it is maybe outside a block party, sort of the last American custom. that lets you know your neighbors? Labor Day parties, July 4th parties, you know, cul-de-sac barbecues, there's all sorts of things that you can get to know your neighbors by. That's true. Your neighborhood's a lot more active than mine. But you live in an apartment, right? I do.

Do you get to the retreaters at an apartment? So you're supposed to sign up, and I always forget to. So I don't. Very convenient. I actually, I think I would love it. I would have a lot. Okay. If you, no, but like I feel like my apartment is mainly urban young professionals who are nauseating.

And I think one of the most nauseating things I recently saw in my apartment was that they were having not a happy hour, but a yappy hour so your dogs could meet each other. And I was like, I need to move out. But anyway. You know what you could do? You could dress up as a resistor. As a woman, you know, with a pink shirt saying, you know, anti-Trump things. Right, because it's a costume party. It's a character.

My neighbors would probably embrace me. I also try to keep my thing on the down low. All right. Well, thank you for joining us as a dad and a curmudgeon, Michael. Very welcome. And hopefully you will lighten up a little before actually Halloween. But also, I really want to egg your house. Oh, okay.

Well, thanks so much for listening to The Daily Signal podcast, brought to you from the Robert H. Bruce Radio Studio at the Heritage Foundation. Please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Google, Play, or SoundCloud, and please leave us a review or a rating on iTunes to give us any feedback. We'll see you again tomorrow. You've been listening to The Daily Signal podcast, executive produced by Kate Trinko and Daniel Davis, sound design by Michael Gooden, Lauren Evans, and Thalia Ramprasad.

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