Lindsey Graham says McCarthy ouster would be a ‘disaster’ for GOP, Ukraine funding

Allegiances were made clear by South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham as he voiced concern for the GOP and Ukraine in reaction to the potential “disaster” ousting of the speaker of the House.

(Video: CBS News)

Adorned with a lapel pin uniting the American and Ukrainian flags, Graham’s posturing alongside America First leader former President Donald Trump on the campaign trail was again belied by his outspoken America Last positioning. Such was the case Sunday on “Face The Nation” as he sat down with CBS anchor Margaret Brennan and addressed the potential motion to vacate House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)

“I think Kevin is the right guy at the right time,” the senator expressed. “The only way he loses his job is if a handful of Republicans join up with the Democratic Party to fire him. That would be a disaster for the future of the Republican Party.”

“That’s not gonna happen,” insisted Graham. “Kevin has the overwhelming confidence of his membership, he worked to avoid a shutdown. He will help Ukraine, but he’s telling everybody in the country, including me, you better send something over for the border for me to help Ukraine, and he’s right to make that demand.”

Seemingly disregarded by the South Carolina lawmaker was the fact that the stopgap spending measure advanced by the House Saturday to avoid the government shutdown had passed with nearly unanimous Democrat support while over 40 percent of Republicans voted in opposition to McCarthy’s clean continuing resolution.

As a result, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz vowed over the weekend that he would be filing a motion to vacate the speaker and assured CNN anchor Jake Tapper he had enough Republicans backing him “so that when you host this show next week, if Kevin McCarthy is still speaker of the House he will be serving at the pleasure of the Democrats.”

“He will be working for the Democrats. The only way that McCarthy will be speaker of the House is if Democrats bail him out. Now they probably will. I actually think that when you believe in nothing as Kevin McCarthy does, everything’s negotiable and I think he’ll cut a deal with the Democrats,” the congressman added.

The Florida firebrand’s outspoken take landed him with his own threat of removal as it was reported that the findings of an Ethics Committee investigation of Gaetz could be used to justify expelling him from Congress.

“We want him out,” an anonymous Republican lawmaker had told CNN.

Prominent in Gaetz’s protestations of McCarthy’s negotiations on the funding deadline was an apparent deal cut with Democrats to hold an up-or-down vote on support for Ukraine when legislators returned to the floor while securing the border continued to go ignored.

Prior to his full-throated support of the speaker on Sunday, Graham pointed to his Ukrainian flag pin and expressed, “Do you think I would leave Ukraine hanging?” before contending that European allies “have spent more money in Ukraine than we have. When you hear otherwise, it’s just not true.”

He then promised a Senate bill for $60- to $70 billion in fiscal year 2024 spending for Ukraine in addition to disaster aid and border security measures. In support of the continued funding, Graham had argued, “If we pull the plug on Ukraine, that’s 10 times worse than Afghanistan. There goes Taiwan. To stop funding Ukraine is a death sentence for Taiwan…You missed all of WWII if you don’t know how this movie ends. To the Republicans who say Ukraine doesn’t matter to us, you’re wrong. Respectfully, you’re wrong.”

Kevin Haggerty

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