'Forget that': GOP senator not 'backing off' effort to score $500K in taxpayer money

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) at a National Press Club luncheon on September 8, 2015 (Al Teich/ Shutterstock.com)

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is refusing to back down from the demand that the Justice Department give Republican senators a $500,000 settlement after their calls to and from President Donald Trump were exposed.

Trump announced in October that he believed the Department of Justice (DOJ) owed him $230 million for the special counsel investigations into past actions. Republican senators have followed his lead, requesting that they to get a settlement from the DOJ.

Among the investigations was Operation: Arctic Frost, in which then-DOJ special counsel Jack Smith probed whether Trump violated the law by deploying fake electors in battleground states President Joe Biden narrowly won to sign false documents that were eventually submitted to Congress. The evidence collected on the matter included a call list of those both calling Trump and who he was calling. Those phone numbers were documented along with the date and length of the call. Many of those calls were to Republican lawmakers ahead of the Jan. 6 certification of the 2020 election. Despite claims, no call was monitored or "wiretapped."

Among those lawmakers was Graham.

Speaking to Semafor congressional bureau chief Burgess Everett, Graham said he was "open to changes," since so many members of the House and Senate were outraged. He added, however, that he wasn't giving up.

"The idea that I'm backing off and just letting this vote? you can forget that," Graham said, according to Everett.

"I look forward to working with my colleagues on the other side to find a way to make this section more acceptable. But I am not backing off. I am not going to accept repeal," Graham added.

CNN reported this week that the bill that ended the government shutdown included a provision requiring the Justice Department to inform lawmakers when they're being investigated or their information is being subpoenaed.

Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) said earlier on Thursday that the demand is "tone deaf" and " wrong-headed."

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