And possible russian involvement in the 2016 elections. His is an hour and a half. [applause] senator graham we are going to be done to go to the baseball game where it starts at 1 00. Ill make a comment about the latest tweet. Have you seen it . Yeah. Senator graham President Trump tweeted out that he believes that president obama ordered wiretapping of his campaign. [laughter] senator graham and that would be yes. I dont know what happened but i can only tell you the summary of the tweet. The president of the United States is claiming that the former president of the United States ordered wiretapping of his Campaign Last year. I dont know if its true or it but if it is true would be the biggest political scandal since watergate. Chanting] senator graham just be quiet. Be quiet. If the former president of the United States was able to obtain a warrant lawful if ily to monitor trumps campaign, that would be the biggest scandal since watergate. Heres the deal as we get ready to talk to each other. Im very worried. Im very worried that our president is suggesting that the former president has done something illegal. I would be very worried, if in fact, the Obama Administration was able to obtain a warrant lawfulfully about Trump Campaign activity with a foreign government. So its my job as a United States senator to get to the bottom of this. I promise you i will. [cheers and applause] senator graham all right, questions. [inaudible] louder. Senator graham you want me to talk louder . Ill do it. Put the video up. Indiscernible] this question is from westminster. Senator graham wheres andrea . Are you going to push for a Russian Investigation and not just support one. Everyones involvement in russia eeds to be investigated. [cheers and applause] senator graham im not only going to push for an investigation but going to punish russia for trying to interfere in our election. [cheers and applause] senator graham i have introduced sanctions to punish the putin regime. These are bipartisan sanctions hat would hit putin hard for interfering in our election. How about you let me finish my question. I believe with all my heart and soul that the russians did interfere in our elections. It wasnt a 400 pound man sitting on a bed somewhere, but Russian Intelligence Services hacked into po december tas emails and d. N. C. And they gave that information to wikileaks and it was leaked out during the course of the campaign. That to me needs to be punished. Any republican here . We should be as upset about this as any democrat because anything that can happen to one party from a foreign power can happen to the other party. As to the outcome, im not suggesting it change the outcome, only that they interfered and it needs to be punished. As for the Trump Campaign. Inspector,the f. B. I. And well be holding a hearing, were going to explain to you and the world what russia does to democracies all over the world. Their toolbox and how they use it. Were going to do two things. Were going to explain to the world what russia does to try to break the back benn of democracy including ours. Were going to make a case why they should be sanctioned. As to trumprussia campaign ties. I have no evidence personally that there are any, but i will insist that the f. B. I. Be given full opportunity to look into this without political interference. [applause] ok, next question. This question is from emily chandler. Mily would you stand up . Sen. Graham did you need anything need anything else . Youre good . Ok, who is this . This is from emily chandler. Sen. Graham emily, where are you at, emily . Hey, hemly. Her question is, given the 2016 South Carolina president ial election results, what are your plans to ensure all Donald Trumps policies and agendas are implemented. Sen. Graham heres what im going to do, im going to try to help our president , donald trump, be as successful as possible, number one because i agree with him mostly and id like to get this country moving again. Boo] no. I want to replace obamacare because i think its broken. Gorsacho ut judge then Supreme Court because i think hes qualified. I want to cut your taxes because we need to. I want to rebuild our military because its broken. I want to build the Keystone Pipeline to get oil from canada. O you dont have to buy. [cheers and applause] sen. Graham so what have you learned, im a conservative, damn proud of it, im going to help trump where i can. The rest of you who voted for clinton should want him to succeed too. This question is pr Pauline Roberts from westminster. Sen. Graham sit down. This guy all right, go ahead. Go ahead. This question is from Pauline Roberts from westminster. Pauline would you please stand up . We need Affordable Health care what will you do to make sure that middle class people can afford health care. Sen. Graham thats the key question. Who asked the question . Pauline roberts. Sen. Graham all right. Ok. How many of you are on medicare . Whoa. All of you on medicare . Ok. How many of you like it . All right. Lets keep it. How about it. All right. How many of you are below 65 . Below 65. You cant be raising your hand twice. How many of you have insurance through your company . How many of you like it . Better than nothing. Sen. Graham how many of you have problems getting insurance. So heres the deal. Theres three ways to get insurance from the government. Medicare, medicaid, v. A. Through your employer. Or as an individual. So what would i like to see happen . Id like to see medicare saved because its going broke. Id like to make sure that employers can continue to offer your health care so it doesnt get so expensive they have to drop it. Heres my problem with obamacare. Were down to one Health Care Company in South Carolina. Why . Has anybody here lost their coverage from their employer . Heres what i think is going to happen if we dont fix it. If we dont fix it, those of you who raised your hand, that get your coverage through your company, theyre going to drop it because it would be easier to pay the fine than it will be to cover you. Because the cost has gone up 27 . How many of you how many of you would like to keep your Company Health care . All right, thats a good question. How many of you want Single Payer Health Care Coverage . [applause] sen. Graham dont vote for me because i think thats a lousy idea. So heres what were going to do. Heres why were going to replace obamacare. Employers Affordable Health care act. Employers are going to drop coverage and everybody that work farce company will go into a state exchange. Were down to one company. Youll have no choice. Ill tell you what, youre going to get kicked out in about 30 seconds if you dont shut up. Because im telling the truth. Sen. Graham no, because youre rude. How many want to kick this guy out . Get him out of here. Get him out of here. So here we go. All right. So how many want competition . When it comes to health care . How many of you are upset with the v. A. Taking too long. No profit in health care . Heres my view. I dont want the whole country i dont want the whole country to be in a v. A. System where you have to wait forever and get what the government gives you whenever they decide you want it. Thats not what i go for. So were going to replace obamacare with more private Sector Health care, be able to buy health care all over the country. This question is from Shelly Stewart from green vivel greenville, South Carolina. She asks, what are you doing bout law enforcements pardoning of africanamericans. Sen. Graham have you been talking about the f. B. I. . Do you know anybody that has . Because theyre black. Give me their names. I met with the i met with the i met with the f. B. I. Director yesterday. Ive never had anybody i never had anybody come up to me in South Carolina who is africanamerican to tell me theyve been talking targeted by the f. B. I. Because of their color. So i dont believe thats a problem. If youve got any examples all right. This question is from dave and lindsay. This question is from james and lindsay fable. Ill you please stand up . Grip have you been targeted by this the f. B. I. Because youre fricanamerican . Sir. Thank you for coming today. I believe the question was about the police, not the f. B. I. How do we know that . So the question is about africanamericans being targeted by the police like i have in the ast. Sen. Graham the question is racial profiling. Anyone know tim scott . I didnt ask if you liked him. I ask if you know him. Hes africanamerican senator. He says hes been stopped eight or 10 times by the capitol hill police. Ive been up there 20 years, ive never been stopped by the capitol hill police. I think thats your point, isnt it . Yeah. So heres the deal with policing. Got to be tough on a good day. We need to be sensitive to the fact that communities feel under siege by the cops. We need to be sensitive to the idea that cops feel under siege and find some orderly process to enforce the law. But ive never been stopped. Youre white sen. Graham if youll just listen to the end of this. Ive never been stopped because im a short white guy. The cops seem not to be stopping me but they do seem to be stopping tim. So lets talk about the cops for a minute. Ive been a prosecutor most of my life. I dealt with cops. And theres nothing worse than a bad cop. You know why a bad cop is a bad deal . Because theyve got a badge and a gun. Theres Nothing Better than a good cop. So the bottom line is, i hope we will take a harder look at this. Im sorry, i thought you said about the f. B. I. Go around to the police chief in South Carolina and try to do more community policing. Better training. Better training for our police officers. Spend a little bit of money making sure that, because youve got a young black guy Walking Around in the neighborhood in the middle of the night doesnt mean theyre a. There you go. This question is from james and lindsay zable. As a as a south carolinian i was happy to hear you speak out but trumps russian ties your voting record doesnt reflect that when can we expect to see that change. Sen. Graham im the chief author of legislation to punish russians for interfering in our election and my chief cosponsor is ben cardin from the state of maryland. That bill needs to be voted on this year. I just got back from france and germany and russia is all other their elections. What are they trying to do . Theyre trying to break the backbone of democracy. Vladimir putin is a thug and people who object to him, people who object to him, they dont come to town halls and yell because theyll get shot. The people who disagree with him wind up getting plutonium poison, ive never had a friend of mine die from plutonium poisoning. The duma, their equivalent of congress is a complete joke. Hes destroyed the indepevent media and broken the back of the independent judiciary. I was in the in the baltics about two months ago with senator mccain. Lithuania, estonia and the other baltic nation that i cant remember right now. Georgia and the ukraine are all under siege by putin. Heres what the russians are trying to do. Theyre trying to break the back of nato, the european union, heyre trying to get their candidate elected in france, they want to withdraw from nato and the e. U. , Fivestar Party in i think so ive introduced legislation to punish the russians and heres what i predict will happen. That the congress in a bipartisan fashion will pass my bill. Theyll punish the russians for interfering in our elections and trying to break the backs of democracies all over the world. If we forgive and forget putin, then he will keep doing it all over the world and if you dont [inaudible] this question is from Janie Shipley of seneca. Please discuss your position on allowing pharmaceutical companies to claim a drug is safe and effective for a use that has not been approved by f. D. A. These offlabel uses contribute to more than 50 increase in side effects compared to onlabel use. Sen. Graham thats a really good question, i dont know if i understand the answer to it. I dont want to take drugs not approved by the f. D. A. Id like the f. D. A. To be more efficient when it gets drugs to the market. The more generics the better. Generics lower the cost if theyre safe. Who has who asked that question . Whats her name . Janie shipley from seneca. Sen. Graham can i do something that you dont hear much of . I really dont know if i gave you a good answer. Let me get smarter and get back to you. This question is from mitch from seneca. How does your bill to defund the u. N. Help the people of South Carolina . Sen. Graham well [cheers and applause] sen. Graham good question. Im an internationalist. I believe that america should lead from the front, not behind. I dont mind being part of the u. N. Id like a place to go to resolve our differences without killing each other. The problem with the u. N. And israel is getting out of hand. Heres my belief about the state of israel. Its the only democracy in the middle east, it is not without fault, but it is our ally and we should jealously guard the rellingsship with israel because the people want to destroy her, want to destroy you. There have been 20 resolutions passed by the United Nations condemning the state of israel for their settlement policies and six against the world at large. I think that nuts. That is disproportionate. And im not going to take any more of your taxpayer dollars and give it to the u. N. Because i think its get manager antisemitic. So it helps South Carolina not to invest in a body that is antisemitic. The question from emily from simpsonville, South Carolina. I am concerned about the threat to american democracy. What is being done to ensure the diplomatic process . Sen. Graham thats a good question. Have you been following the last 10 years . Weve been at war for 15 years, right. Ive been to iraq and afghanistan 4 times. Remember september 10, 2001 . Probably dont but, you know, its the day before 9 11. We didnt have one soldier in afghanistan. We didnt have an embassy and didnt give the taliban one dime. And the world watched from the sidelines as women were drug to the soccer stadium and shot for sport because they showed a little too much ankle. The great statues of buddha were blown up because ethese nut jobs, the taliban, believed any image is wrong. And we watched and did nothing and thought, thats every there, it wont come here. But what you didnt real ithize is the taliban offered lane safe haven in afghanistan. He was their honored guest and 9 11, the rest is history. So what have i learned . What have i learned . That the people who attack us like al qaeda, have a religious motivation. Its not because of palestine. Its because theyve got a warped view of islam that makes them want to kill everybody in this room. Heres what i believe. You may be tired of fighting you but theyre not tired of fighting you. Heres my goal, to keep the war over there so it doesnt come back here. And youll never youll never win this war, youll never win this war well talk about the saudis. Youll never win this war by killing terrorists. Now, youre talking about a guy so to the republicans in the room, if you want to destroy radical islam, you better invest in the lives of others over there. Because he can drop bombs all day long, ive lost good friends in this war. Many of them afghan and iraqi policemen and lawyers and judges that i worked with as a reservist, 40 times in the last decade, 40 days on the ground as an air force reservist. Heres what i know its going to take to win this war. Youve got to invest in those lives of others to be safe here. The terrorists are offering a glorious death we have to offer a hopeful life. [cheers and applause] area olhouse, in a remote of after gab stan or syria, would do more damage if it educated a young girl than any bomb. Heres what youre going to get from me about diplomacy. This budget being proposed by President Trump who i want to help cuts the state department by 25 . Heres what i will tell you. If you want this war to go on forever, bomb them and leave. If you think youre going to be safe by dropping a bomb and coming back home, youll never be safe. Heres what youve got to do in my opinion. Youve got to have some of our soldiers over there to protect the rest of us here but its not about them killing terrorists as much as it is about them helping build up police and armies. And if you dont advance the lives of others over there, this war never ends. What does winning look like . Heres what winning looks like. When the people over there have police and armies loyal to them, not to the dictator. When the imams over there can preach against this radical form of islam and not get killed. When the politicians over there, lets go to saudi arabia, when a woman can drive over there, youre going to be safer over here. [applause] this question is from emily from salem. Why cant the Senate Demand trump release his taxes . Cheers and applause] sen. Graham where is she at . Emily . Where are you at, emily . Where are you at . Ok. Trump tax returns. There you are. Trump tax returns. We can subpoena his tax returns. [applause] sen. Graham emily. I will do that when i believe theres a reason to do that. Ive introduced in the process of introducing legislation to require anybody running for president in 2020 to release their taxes. How many of you believe benghazi was a bunch of b. S. . I thought so. Ok. This question is from alisa from greenville. Sen. Graham i didnt know there were that many liberals. Which is great. Im glad youre here. You need to speak up more in outh carolina. What will you do to protect Affordable Health care and other sport programs for people with disabilities other support programs for people with disabilities. Sen. Graham if you are disabled, come to my office and youll get Disability Insurance through medicaid. Ok. I dont know when you went but were open five days a week. For the disabled, youre eligible for medicaid if you if the judge says youre disabled. Once youre 65, youre eligible for medicare, no matter if youre bill gates or my aunt who worked in the cotton mill. Can we talk a little bit about medicare. Does anyone want to talk about medicare . So the disabled have Health Insurance through medicaid and the medicaid Disability Insurance program is just about too run out of money. Can i tell you a little bit about what i think is the biggest financial problem for everybody in this room . In 1950, how many people paid taxes for every Social Security resip yept . Do you know . 16. So today there are three workers for every retiree. Again if youre retired, raise your hand. So theres three people now paying into the system. In 20 years, therell be two. How can this be . Im the guy screwing it up. Im not married and i dont have any kids. We live longer. The average age, the average age of a of retirement is 65, right . Thats when you become no, 70 now. Sen. Graham 65 for medicare and 62 you can get early retirement. In 1935, the average person lived to be 65. Today were living into our 80s. More people are living like Strom Thurmond than used to live like 1935. So all the liberals and conservatives in this room, heres the one thing i can tell you. If you dont get a bipartisan plan to save medicare and Social Security, theyre going to fail like going to Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan and tip oneill, adjusted the age of retirement in 1983 from 65 to 67 and it saved Social Security. To those who believe you can save medicare and Social Security by taxing the wealthy, let me tell you this unfunded liability is 70 trillion. We made 70 trillion of promises we dont have the money for. If you took all the money of the 1 in the country, including their dogs, thats 30 trillion. Half of what you need. Now one last thing and well get the next question. To my republican friends to my republican friends, to my republican friends who think you can grow the economy and close that 70 trillion gap, it is impossible. Heres what has to happen. Have you heard of simpsonbowles . We need to do Something Like that. We need to adjust the age of retirement for younger people, give them decades to retire a little later. I make 175,000. Im not saying im worth it, but thats what we get paid. I should pay, heres what i think. I should pay more medicare than im paying today. I dont think i should be getting any subsidies from the government to pay my medicare premiums. And i will say that to anybody who makes 175,000. When it comes to Social Security, im 61. Ill get it when im 65, 66, i guess now. I would gladly give up whatever it takes for me to give up to make sure that people who need it more than i do get it. Let me tell you why. I was i was born i was born in central, anybody ever been to central . When i was 21, i was living in central, going to carolina, the first in my family to go to college. My mom was 52. She was diagnosed with hodgkins disease. She died a year later and we were financially wiped out because we had insurance covering four people. 15 months later, my dad who was 69 died. My sister was 13, i was 22. If it werent for an aunt and uncle in seneca, South Carolina who worked in the cotton mills, i dont know what i would have done. We moved in, me and my sister, i finished college, we got a Social Security survivor benefit check from Social Security about 300 that made the real difference for us. Im 61, soon to be 62. I can get by without whats being promised to me in Social Security. When i was 22 i needed every penny. Im here to tell you, ive seen Social Security on both ends. You want to save america, young people have to work a little longer and people on my income have to pay more and give up some and i will. This question is from carrie brooks from central. Do you consider access to Quality Health care a right or a privilege . What will you do to protect the gains in access to health care that were made with the Affordable Care act. Sen. Graham i think every american should have access to Quality Health care. Heres what im against. Every time you get sick you run to the emergency room and i have to pay the bill. Thats called medicaid. I think medicaid is the most broken thing in the world. Heres what i want to do with medicaid. I want to get everybody in medicaid into a private Health Care Home and manage a managed care environment and i dont want you to run to the emergency room, i want you to go to your doctor. Ill gladly help pay the bill. But im telling everybody in this room, when it comes to health care, if you smoke you need to pay more. The only way were going to provide Quality Health care is to have more choices, not less. I think you should be able to buy health care anywhere in the country, not just South Carolina. And let me tell you, when it comes to medicaid, its fee for service, its about a bankrupt the state of South Carolina. What i would do all over the country is take every medicaid patient, put them in a managed care environment, have the federal government give some money to the state if they deliver Better Health care. Thats what i would do. The last thing im going to do is take every patient in the country and let the federal government give them health care and manage health care. If you want to destroy health care go to the socialized medicine model. Over my dead body. All right. This question is from emily from greer. Given betsy devos stance on Public Education and education funding, how can we ensure that all students are able to receive a quality education. En. Graham great. It any of you believe matters. You want to the same policies even though you lost. For the last eight years weve had policies that i dont agree with but obama had the right to enact. How many people went to Public Education . Me too. How many believe that Public Education will be better if you ust throw more money at it . How many of you believe that Public Education is never going to get better until its shaken up . Thats what a i believe. I believe in Charter Schools. Nibble choice. I believe in choice. I believe for choice in people who are caught in bad schools. Every one of you booing went to a good school, you have no idea what its like to go to a school thats [inaudible] this question from mark from greenville. What is your position on foreign aid assistance, specifically for Poverty Reduction and International Development plans . Mr. Graham we need a icrophone. [inaudible] mr. Graham hurry up, hurry up. Times running. Provide here . Ok. Questioner you may know me. My name is tara. I created the online petition today to get you here. I created the online petition that had over 5,000 South Carolina residents to get you here today. Mr. Graham oh. [cheers and applause] im here. Questioner i would like to thank you for coming. Before i ask you my question or my statement, i am a Public School educator. First and foremost, i would like for everybody here that is a South Carolina resident to lease stand. Mr. Graham good, all voters. Questioner i want to prove to the people and the media that the people of South Carolina are here, were representing, were showing up and were not from another state. Mr. Graham i agree with. That cheers and applause] were not paid questioner were not paid protesters. Mr. Graham no. [cheers and applause] questioner but one of the reasons i am here today is to ask but education. Mr. Graham right. Questioner over the past several weeks, the people of South Carolina flooded your office with phone calls, emails, tweets and even in Person Office visits. About the nomination of betsy devos. Mr. Graham right. Questioner a candidate so unqualified for her position that the Vice President of the United States had to cast the historic deciding vote. The people of South Carolina wanted you to be the one who stood on your own and said no. Cheers and applause] only one more vote was needed. So my question to you is this, senator graham. Why would you vote for someone who wants to dismantle the Public School system by providing vouchers to those who want to attend private school, while essentially dismantling the entire Public School system in the process, the same system in which yourself were educated . [cheers and applause] mr. Graham all right. I got your question. Questioner South Carolina has long suffered from a lack of state and local investment in education. Mr. Graham all right. [cheers and applause] thank you. Questioner so please explain to us how providing vouchers for private schools with public funds will help students who need it the most. Mr. Graham great question. All right. [cheers and applause] heres what you need to realize. Heres what you need to realize. That i did go to Public School. But the vast majority of people in my state dont believe with your approach to education, where all you need is more money. Heres what i think you need. I think you need funding. If money could right. If money could fix education, washington, d. C. , would be the place youd go to. There are more the highest spending pursuant to, really in the whole country, is in washington, d. C. The most in demand program in washington, d. C. , is a Charter School where parents stay in line for days to try to get one of those lottery numbers, to get their kids. Now, youre from up here. Clemson i went to daniel high school. One of the best schools in the state. Heres what its all about. What about those schools that are predominantly africanamerican counties, in our state, there are 11 of them. Where the Education System is not what you would want, not what those parents want, and not what i would want. [crowd noise] heres the challenge. The Public Education system is the great equalizer in america. It is one way that a guy born in the back of a liquor store in central can grow up to be a United States senator. Because you get an education through the public system thats free. What happens, what happens what happens when that Public School system for decades fails to produce the quality people [inaudible] [crowd yelling] i think we need a combination of alternatives when schools fail. No child left behind was an effort to grade schools. When you have a Public School that is not producing the quality youd want for your child, heres what i promise. We need money, lets do money. Where we need competition, lets do competition. And the goal for me is to change Public Education where it needs to go, which is enrich every Young Persons life. Ill say in our state, we got a ways to go. [crowd yelling] i can tell but betsy devos. She didnt give me a penny. I think im the only republican she didnt give a dime to. The bottom line is lets see how she does. I thought she was qualified. I dont buy into the liberal [inaudible] [crowd yelling] this question is from mark. What is your position on foreign aid assistance, specifically for Poverty Reduction and International Development programs like pepfar and help programs . Mr. Graham all right. Can we talk about no were going to keep control of this. [crowd yelling] nope. Ill get with you in a minute. Questioner she has been in education for 15 years or more. In michigan. The schools are rated 42. 42. Mr. Graham you dont think shes qualified . Crowd yelling] heres the way it works. Where are we at . Questioner were 50 out of 50. [inaudible] shes done the Charter Schools. Mr. Graham i got you. [inaudible] i thought she was qualified. Crowd yelling] how many of you think Sonia Sotomayor was qualified to be on the Supreme Court . How many of you think that elena kagen was qualified to be on the Supreme Court . How many of you there we go. How many of you believe that Sonia Sotomayor was qualified to be on the Supreme Court . [crowd yelling] how many of you believe that elena kagen was qualified to be on the Supreme Court . [crowd yelling] how many of you believe that judge gorsuch is qualified to be on the Supreme Court . [crowd yelling] so, let me tell you about [inaudible] i was the only republican on the Judiciary Committee to vote for Sonia Sotomayor and elena kagen and i got the crap beat out of me. Can you hear me . [crowd yelling] you know why i got the crap beat out of me . Because theres people in my party upset that we lost and they didnt want obama to pick anybody they didnt agree with. And heres what i said. Heres what i said. The system cant work that way because there are consequences to losing an election. This president , this president , obama, this president obama earned the right to pick qualified people. I voted for every one of his cabinet nominees. [crowd yelling] hush, hush, please. Why did i vote for his cabinet nominees . I thought they were qualified even though i wouldnt have picked any of them. [crowd yelling] now, now. Now. No. Now, now. Now, no, well, wait a minute. Now, you lost an election and youre acting like it doesnt matter. [crowd yelling] foreign aid. Foreign aid. [crowd yelling] foreign aid. I thought she was qualified. Gorsuch is beyond qualified. [crowd yelling] how many of you want to eliminate foreign aid . Raise your hand . How many of you want to eliminate foreign aid . All right. Foreign aid, foreign aid is 1 of the federal budget. If you eliminated foreign aid, rand paul, in case youre listening, you dont balance the budget. Have you heard of pepfar . [crowd yelling] the question was about foreign aid. The question ive already ive asked were talking were talking about foreign aid. Ive answered the devos question. If you dont like it, you dont like it. So here. The question that was read by the young lady, this is important. If you dont get that foreign assistance is National Security in another form, youre going to get a bunch of us killed. Heres the deal. [applause] [crowd yelling] pepfar was a program started by george w. Bush, where we put 40 billion over 10 years into fighting aids in africa, ive been to africa about five or six times in the last decade. Millions of Young African children are alive today because of the money you spent to eradicate aids, its not eradicated but the almost stopped. So heres foreign aid. All of those children are going to like you. All of those children are going to have a good view of us. And we did the right thing. Now, when it comes to helping israel, we give them 3. 4 billion a year. That helps this country by terrorism, the money well spent. My view is that foreign assistance, helping people over there, is a form of National Security. And ive tried to say it everywhere i know to say it. If you take diplomacy off the table, if we become fortress america, and we leave over there hoping they wont follow us here, not only are they going to follow us here, theyre going to kill a lot of us here. So one of the ways to save face is to invest in the lives of others. Im going to fight for this foreign aid budget. Because i believe in it as much as i believe in the military budget. [applause] questioner the question is from jim from greenville. I want to you change the health care to the same as you have. Cheers and applause] mr. Graham how many people want the health care i have . [applause] good. You need to join the air force serve 33 years and you can get it. [crowd yelling] now, lets talk about congress and health care. Remember when we passed the obamacare act on christmas eve, it was jammed down our throats as republicans. [crowd yelling] i decided to opt out of governmentsponsored health care. Just listen to me. Listen to me. Because of this very question. Listen. For this very question i decided to opt out of the system that congress was allowed to be in virginia. I came back home like the rest of you, a little short white guy from South Carolina, i went into South Carolina obamacare system. My deductible went from 750 to 6,250. And my premium quadrupled. And im still as healthy today as i was then. Bottom line is, obamacare for middle class people who are working is driving up your cost, increasing your deductible. Theyre taking money from to you buy for free for somebody else. And that aint health care, thats redistribution of income. I want to improve your health care, not punish people who work. [crowd yelling] questioner this question is from susan from clemson. Every day an environmental regulation is eliminated or a whole department not funded. What can you do and what can we do . Cheers and applause] mr. Graham ok. The first thing we have to do is pass a budget. You cant run the government without a budget. Right . So the president s budget is going to increase military spending, im all for. That but heres the problem. [crowd yelling] let me tell you why im all for that. How many of you depend on the military to keep you safe . [crowd yelling] how many of you are happy with the fact that 70 of the marine corps cant fly because of training problems and spare parts . How many of you think its ok to have the Smallest Army since 1940, because of insane budget cuts . [applause] how many of you think its ok to have the Smallest Navy since 1915, when the whole world is falling apart . [crowd yelling] so im going to support increased defense spending because we need it. The people defending us need it. But when it comes to the environment, the worst possible thing you can do, the worst possible thing you can do is increase defense spending and take all the money out of the other parts of the government. [crowd yelling] how many of you believe that Climate Change is real . Cheers and applause] ok. I do too. Heres what i want to do. Cheers and applause] i want to get us to a lower Carbon Economy without destroying the economy and i think we can. When it comes to environmental regulation let me give you a good example of how far weve gone. A wet spot has been considered navigable waters under the Obama Administrations clean water act. [crowd yelling] i am all for going through the environmental regulations and cleaning them up, some of them are just ridiculous. But i promise everybody in this room, i think Climate Change is real and i look for a bipartisan effort over time to lower Carbon Emissions and pass on a good, clean environment. [crowd yelling] questioner this one is from sara from clemson. Hi, senator graham. Im a clemson grad student from iowa. And the dacl is going through my hometown. As much as you the midwest oil is the worlds supplier of affordable crops, why privatize the dapl over creating solar or wild farms safer for the environment and my family . [applause] mr. Graham are you talking about the Keystone Pipeline . Is that what youre talking about . The Keystone Pipeline . Ok. [crowd yelling] all right. Im for building the pipeline. Crowd yelling] im going to vote to build the pipeline. [crowd yelling] you know why i want to build the pipeline . Because, because if you dont have a pipeline, you have to use oil trucks. And the likelihood of a spill from a truck is greater than it is a pipeline. [crowd yelling] let me tell you this. Some of you believe we can do without oil and gas. Im not in that category. So heres what im going to do. Im going to vote to expand the ability to find oil and gas in our country so we dont have to buy it from people who hate our guts. [crowd yelling] id rather buy oil from canada, who is our cousin, than buy it from a bunch of people overseas who would kill us all if they could. [crowd yelling] so heres what im going to do. Im going to find a way to extract natural gas and oil from americanheld territory to make us Energy Independent as quick as possible. [crowd yelling] im also going to invest in alternative energy to get us away from our dependence on fossil fuels as quick as possible. If iu dont see the need if you dont see the need for both, youre living in a bubble. If you dont see the need to increase our military, youre living in a fantasy land. And if you think theyre going to leave us alone over there by just turning our backs on over there, then youre setting up another 9 11. [crowd yelling] questioner this question is from larry from grier. The g. O. P. Proposed Health Care Replacement plan involves vouchers. Doesnt that make it more difficult for the lower and middle class to afford adequate Health Care Coverage . Mr. Graham yeah. [applause] can i give you a little secret . I dont even know what the. O. P. Plan is. [applause] [crowd yelling] let me tell you. Did you all see rand paul on tv . You know, rand and i dont agree on much but hes right about this. What was our big knock on obamacare . They did it without any of us. Somewhere hidden away. Im not going to [crowd yelling] let me tell my Republican Leaders who may be listening. Dont give Lindsey Graham take it or leave it options. Because ill leave it. I want to be part of this. I want you to know what were doing. [applause] i dont want to replace obamacare with a process thats just exactly like we passed it to begin with. I want you to understand why it should be better. And i want to take responsibility if its not. I want to have a say about what we do with your health care. I believe obamacare is really designed to get the private sector out of the market and have a Single Payer Health care through the back door. And i dont like that. [cheers and applause] i dont like that. I think its a lousy idea. Its up to us. As republicans. To replace obamacare with something thats good for working people. And its all about working people and its about people who are disabled and the about people down on their luck. So heres the deal, folks. I promise you the following. That there will be transparency. That youll have a chance to understand what were doing. Im going to understand what im doing for a before i vote. Heres the truth of the matter. Liberal ou in here are compared to most South Carolinaans. [crowd yelling] thats not a bad thing. Thats not a bad thing. Listen. Listen. Thats not a bad thing. [crowd yelling] you know what i like about me . If i went to a Tea Party Meeting id get the same reaction. [laughter] as a matter of fact, i may not have made it this long in a Tea Party Meeting. [laughter] so heres the deal. Heres the deal. Were going to take a few more questions. But heres the deal about the country. Heres what im trying to do. Im trying to be as honest with you as i know how. Health care, if we got a better idea, you need to know about it before we vote on it. You need to be able to call me and tell me, i dont like this. As far as i know, theres no voucher component to it. So we owe you that. Heres what i owe you. Every time i vote for somebody you dont like, i believe im doing whats best for this president who deserves the ability to have his cabinet. [crowd yelling] whether you like it or not, i can tell you this, i tell you, i can tell you this [crowd yelling] i can tell you this, i can tell you this. I believe president obama deserved to have the cabinet that represented his views. And heres the one thing you get heres the one thing im trying to do. [crowd yelling] heres the one thing im trying to do. Iming to make sure, im trying to make sure that the system works after im dead. You know whats going to happen . [crowd yelling] you know whats going to happen . If we get into our camps, if we get into our camps, what we dont recognize, there are other people who disagree with us, and when the elections over, the people who won it, if they cant have a chance to implement their view of why they ran, then the countrys going to fail. [crowd yelling] last question. Questioner the question is from joan from taylor. Where do you stand on russian interference which tends to be widespread in the current regime . Where do you stand on rush yab interference which russian interference which tends to be widespread in current regimes . [crowd yelling] mr. Graham ok. We have a process and wear going to use that process were going to use that process. And the process was, were going to randomly pick questions. Im going to answer them and everybody that wrote a questions going to get an answer from me. And the question again was about russian interference. How many of you believe that if we give putin a pass, well regret it . [applause] me too. Heres what id like heres my message to President Trump. [crowd yelling] heres my message to President Trump. Mr. President , mr. President. [crowd yelling] im not suggesting that you did not win the election. I am suggesting, mr. President , that russia interfered in our election. And im asking you as the commander in chief and the president of the United States to push back against russia. It was democrats today, it could be republicans tomorrow. Mr. President , youre the leader of the free world. Youre the protector of democracy. [crowd yelling] democracy is under siege from putins russia. And let it be said, let it be said that the pushback against putin started with a senior senator from South Carolina. [cheers and applause] questioner this question is from ryan from anderson. Even after making several promises to release his tax returns, frum refuses to release them. Despite being audited, nixon released his. Do you believe as i do that he should release them . Mr. Graham i think if theres any Campaign Context between the Trump Campaign and russia, then well cross that bridge at that time. [crowd yelling] i dont theres no law requiring him to do it. But i think the next president ial election, you should release your tax returns. Questioner the question is from robin from greenville. When will you stop aiding and abetting the enemies of the people with your stride comments about the president . [crowd yelling] mr. Graham thats a good one. Now who is that . Stand up. [cheers and applause] hey all right. Let me we got a lot of press here today. Let me tell you my view of the press. Pain in the ass. But necessary. A free press is the first thing you want to get rid of if youre an autocratic type person. All right . [crowd yelling] in russia, in russia, you would ave been gone a long time ago. [laughter] but you got nothing to worry about. Because im not listening to you. So heres the deal. [crowd yelling] heres the deal. Ive got to introduce next week a press freedom shield law. Im going to do it with all people, chuck schumer. We dont agree on much, but we agree on this. [cheers and applause] and the person who originally introduced it was mike pence. And what it does [crowd yelling] it protects reporters from having to reveal to the government their sources. [cheers and applause] now, so. I am absolutely in the camp of a free press is essential to democracy. [cheers and applause] however, so our people, so our friends in the press, youre going nuts. Youre acting like the party in opposition. Youre acting like a lot of people out here who are so upset about trump. You have no idea what it takes to run a democracy. [crowd yelling] youre so upset. Youre so bitter. That you can only see one side of the story. So to my friends in the press, if i were you, i would report the news and let us make up our own minds. Every 30 seconds doesnt have to be a breathless take on trump. Questioner this question is from victoria from clemson. Do you believe that President Trump should release his tax returns . Mr. Graham yes, he should. I think he should. Heres the question. Am i going to subpoena his tax returns . No, not without a reason. Am i going to am i going to introduce legislation that will require anybody running for president in 2020 to release their tax returns . Yes. [crowd yelling] questioner the question is from ben. What is being done so that the future generations of americans can successfully run this country . Mr. Graham oh, boy. What a great i request question. What a great question. What a great question. What a great question. You know what, isnt that the ultimate question really . Heres what i think needs to be done. I think democrats and republicans need to realize our common threats and our common values. Heres what i think we need to realize. That medicare and Social Security, by 2042, are going to consume all the revenue that future generations thats absolutely the gods truth. [crowd yelling] 80 million baby boomers like me are going to retire in the next 20 years. Were down to two workers for every retiree. And its going to break the back of medicare, Social Security, then you got medicaid. Youre not going to tax your way to fix this problem. Youre not going to throw the economy. Im dying for a Ronald Reagantip oneill moment. Im dying where people can get together and find ways to fix problems. So heres what i want to do. To those of who you believe Climate Change is real, id like to be the republican who would reach out to a democrat to reach a lower Carbon Economy. Increasing the ability to create jobs, not lessen them. I do want to pass on to the next generation clean air and clean water. Let me tell you, let me tell you , in terms finally, to the next generation, who ill never meet. Heres what i want to have happen on my watch. When its all said and done. I want people to say that senator graham saw the threat from radical islam for what it was. Existential but can be defeated and will be defeated. That he understood that you cant win the war through military force. Het foresight, even though it wasnt popular, to invest in the lives of others over there, even though were broke here. To make sure that one day they can take this radical ideology and stop it in stomp it into the glound, that a young girl can be have a say about her child over there so we dont get attacked over here. Eres what i hope theyll i hope they say we rose to the occasion. Were so divided, were so bitter, were so upset with the process so down on each other. But let me tell you. Let me tell you this. As to future Education Opportunities in South Carolina, theyre not going to get bet we are money alone but it sure as hell would help. As to those who are fighting this war, as to those who are fighting this war, im going to do everything i can to make life easier for your families. I cant promise youll never go to iraq and afghanistan again, you probably will. But we can all take better care of your families. To the veteran who has been hurt, to those who are disabled, well pay your bills because you deserve it. To every veteran in america. To every veteran in america. You dont have to choose between the v. A. And nothing else. You can choose between the v. A. And every doctor and hospital you want and well pay the bill. So to the future to future generations, i hope youll look back on a town hall meeting like this d say, that out of came something good. This question is from Ellen Mcalpine from seneca. What do you plan on doing to plo tect the environment in the wake of the rollback of regular to protect the environment in the wake of the rollback of regulations. Sen. Graham i think we need environmental policy to address, number one, the clean water act, that the e. P. A. Who created the e. P. A. . Remember when Boston Harbor was on fire . One thing i tell you about South Carolina, god dealt us a pretty good hand. The late joe cassidy, we put thousands of acres off to development. If you dont if youre not an environmentalist, then youre not a really good south carolinian. Weve got a really good deal here. What i want to do is make sure that conservation is elevated, that conservation easements, we have more not less. Where people are incentivized to take their private property and put in it public trusts. Number two, i want to make sure we dont roll back clean air and clean water protection. That keeps harmful pollutants like mercury and other things from going into the air. The bottom line is, the bottom line is, we want to ensure that we dont overregulate to the point that you cant create jobs unnecessarily to our farmers out there, we want to make sure we dont regulate pesticides to the point where we put you out of business but we also dont want pesticides getting streaming and hurting the ecosystem. Heres my view. The e. P. A. Under obama went way too far. And new is the time to correct. But to the republicans here, what is our environmental policy . What is the environmental policy of the Republican Party . So heres what i would urge to my republican friends. Dont give an inch on caring about the environment. Be for clean air and clean water. Understand that Climate Change, man is contributing to it. And over time it will hurt us all. Come up with Environmental Policies that are better for business. You know, al gore made Climate Change a religion. I want to make it a problem to be solved. The question is from mary collins from mountain rest. In light of so many questions about russian connections, shouldnt trumps taxes be released . [applause] sen. Graham all right. All right. Heres what i think. I think most of the people in this room voted for Hillary Clinton or somebody other than trump. As a matter of fact and theyre very upset. Theyre very upset. And they lost. And they cant get over the fact they lost. So thats why you have a lot of questions. Now, but every american should be asking about russia. Every american should be concerned about russia. Ive told you about 10 times that im very concerned about what they did in our election. I dont believe its a 400pound guy sitting on his bed. The russians did it and i want them to pay a price. About his tax returns. Ive told you, i think he should release them. Im not going to subpoena them unless i have a reason. And in 2020 everyone should release tax returns. But why so many questions . Why so many questions . Because people came here thinking that if you yell at me enough ill stop being a conservative republican and i wont. Some people came here believing that ill never help trump because i say bad things about him, i will, but im still going to push back when i think hes wrong. This question is from jeffreyed aleberg from clemson. At what point do we need a bipartisan special committee for russia . Sen. Graham thats a really good question. Ok. All right. Can i give a Little Information here . This may be news for the news people back there. So theres two lanes here. What should congress do about russia . Right . And what should the f. B. I. And other criminal investigative organizations do about allegations of a of illegal contact between the Trump Campaign and russia . Heres what we should do. We should make sure the f. B. I. , if they are investigating trumprussia ties, and i dont have any evidence of them, should be able to do it without hesitation or fear. Ok. Congress should be looking into all things russia. Right now, we have the Intelligence Committee looking at the roll of the c. I. A. In terms of all things russia. Im starting an investigate march 15, well have a hearing with senator white it is house who is my Ranking Member senator whitehouse, who is my Ranking Member, well look into the roleplayed in the russia played in the 2016 election. If i believe this thing is getting so complicated we need to put all the committees together and we may be getting close to that, where you have the intel committee, the Judiciary Committee and maybe finance if there are business connections, then well need a joint select committee to look at it holistcally. Well see, well see how the current process works. As to the criminal part of it. I talked to the director of the f. B. I. Yesterday. Heres what i told him. The reason Jeff Sessions needed to recuse himself is, ive been saying this for weeks, i dont see how anybody involved in the campaign could make a, you know, could be seen as giving fair advice to an investigator and could dispose of it. I love Jeff Sessions as a person but he to me i dont care if you like him or not. I didnt say you liked him, i like him. If you dont like him fine, hes my friend. So heres the deal. Heres the deal. The Deputy Attorney general is coming up for confirmation tuesday. And the question for him is, can he impartially oversee an investigation, could he dispose of it you dont even know who he is. So heres the deal. Hes recommended by the two Democratic Senators from the state of maryland. Hes the attorney general of the state of maryland. Mikulski, Barbara Mikulski the first woman senator in decades, listeningest serving woman senator, says this guy is a good guy. Heres what im going to do. If i think hes capable of doing it, i will. If i dont feel hes capable, ill call for independent counsel. Why . Let me tell you why. Weve got to get this right. Ill tell you what, i dont count on most of you wanting to get this right. You know why . You know why . You know why . You dont want to get it right, ou just want to get trump. So ok. It may have been a horrible thing for me to say to you but heres what i believe that the emotions right now are so high, so high that if i went to a Tea Party Event they wouldnt want me to appoint anybody. Im getting bombarded because i anted Jeff Sessions recused. Es, sir. Good question. Investigation has been going on almost a year. What were concerned about especially those of us who are independent, what we dont like is the fact that its not aggressively being released to the public. Sen. Graham thats a really good question. Sen. Graham can i repeat what he said . So got to end it in a minute. But this is really good. Hes worried that if you dont watch this, some of the evidence is going to go away. Right . E other thing [inaudible] sen. Graham i got you. So hes worry wed need a system to protect the evidence. K. You are all republicans. Dragging your feet on this sen. Graham ok, i got you. I got you. I got you. Ok. I got you. Let me tell you the problem with this investigation. The reason you cant release a lot of the things that you want, look, the flynn transcripts, weve asked for them to be sent to the Judiciary Committee by the f. B. I. I want to see them myself. Most of this stuff that were finding out, i cant tell you how we find it out, people would get killed. This is the problem here. A lot of this is classified. Im having my first hearing in the public. Ill be the only member investigating russia that i know of that will have a public hearing. Im trying to find a way to inform you about whats been going on for the last year, to vn cons to convince you that i care about it and were going to stay on it until i get to the bottom of it, without compromising confidential classified information. This is where the idea of a joint select committee becomes more relevant. Youve got the c. I. A. , who deals in the world of spooks. Right. Youve got the f. B. I. Who has got a counterterrorism role and a Traditional Law enforcement role merged here. The one thing i want to be able to convince you of is i care about what happened in 2016 in our election. And i hope i can convince you of that because i do. I think the russians did it. I think the russians are going to keep doing it. Until they pay a price. Ok. Now, about how we can explain what happened. The tweet today by President Trump was earth shattering to me. Just think about that just think about what he claims. He claims he claims he claims that the former president illegally wiretapped his campaign. We need to get to the bottom of that, dont you agree . This is actually a good onversation. [inaudible] sen. Graham no, not ok. Heres all im going to tell you. We have ability to monitor foreign agents throughout the world, including here at home. You cant monitor american citizens without a warrant. Monitoring content. So all im going to say is that when i can find a way to release transcripts if they exist without compromising the sources and methods, i will do so because im tired of asking you to speculate about what somebody did. Nobody should be accused of a crime in the paper and everybody find them guilty, but at the same time you need to know, is your government working . In terms of the flynn transcripts, i think it would be appropriate to release as much of that as we could so you could understand what flynn was saying to the ambassador. As to Trump Campaign ties. Before the election. I dont have any personal evidence that anything happened that was increept, but if there are if theres an investigation going on, and well know here pretty soon, it should go on and go wherever it takes. Hes a republican president , im a republican senator, but this is about america. I promise you were going to allow them to go wherever they need to go. So ive got to go. One more . One more. All right. Heard from you. Ok. Ok. All right, ask your question. Heres the question. Can you hear me . First of all, i want to condition garage late senator graham for coming here. Look at the other people, rubio dont want to go. Wheres duncan, this guy came, ok. Heres the question. Heres the question. Heres the question. And its strictly hypothetical, ok. What would happen if Hillary Clinton were the president . This is hypothetical. This is hypothetical. Ok. What would happen if hill criclin Hillary Clinton was president does or did, wouldnt you want to impeach her . Sen. Graham all right. Hank you for coming. Heres what ive learned. Heres what ive learned. We need to give you more information about the republican alternative to obamacare. I think were deficient there, right. All right. We need to tell you much about the investigation as we can so you wont have to read about it in the paper and speculate on the news, right . We need to be as open about it as we can. It needs to go wherever it goes, theres nobody to reward, nobody to punish. Got that. When it comes to russia, we need to hit them and hit them hard so they dont do it again. So heres my view about how to protect the nation. You need to strengthen the military but if you dont have soft power were all going to regret it. Ive tried to tell you bipartisanship is being lost if we dont regain it, i dont know how you fix medicare with just republicans working by themselves. I dont know how you cey Social Security by yelling about it. So heres the last thought. I dont know what 2017 is going to wind up being like. But im worried. You know why im worried . Im worried that democracy all over the world is under siege. Im worried im worried that in france theres a movement because globalization is scaring people and i get it, life is changing so quick, that you have a leading candidate in france talking about withdrawing from the e. U. , withdrawing from nato, that were all afraid. I dont mind extreme vet bug remember the young lady from clemson . Ok. Well heres what im saying. Vetting from failed states makes sense. But throwing everybody in one pot because of their religion is dangerous. [applause] the only way well win this war is to partner with people in the faith. Im going to leave you with some good news. After 40 trips to iraq and afghanistan, moat fathers and mothers over there are not buying what isil and these nutjobs are selling. Look it or not, they different than us but they want for their kids the same things we want for ours. And we need to help them. The bottom line here is, i will be back, ill come somewhere else here in the state, ill keep you informed. Im not here to try to convince you to agree with me. Im trying to convince you that im doing the best that Lindsey Graham knows how when the cundry country is so sideways and ou know what, i think need to know, we are not upset because a republican won. We are upset [inaudible] en. Graham all right. All right. This is a good way to end this. All right. All right. [applause] sen. Graham hey, maam. Thank you. Is that a good summary of it all . You know what i have in common with some of you . I didnt vote for trump either. All right. All right. I voted for evan mcmullin, i wouldnt know him if he walked on the stage. I was pretty hard on trump and he was pretty hard on me, right. Let me tell you, maam. You may not like the fact that he won, but he beat me like a drum. He beat 16 very talented republicans. He beat the former first lady and secretary of
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