00:00Lindsey Graham loved people from all walks of life. I think in part because of the way that he grew
00:06up, because of the fact that he wasn't handed everything. He was fascinated in everybody. He was fascinated in the
00:15wait staff in the Senate dining room. He was fascinated in the people who made the food. He was fascinated
00:20in the lowest staffer who had been hired three days earlier. He was fascinated by, of course, the very leadership
00:27of our country.
00:28And I think he was fascinated in people because he loved people and he was interested in them. He was
00:34the kind of guy who would walk into the Senate. And when he walked into the Senate, this was a
00:39guy who couldn't have stood more than five foot six or five foot seven. But he swashbucked his jacket open
00:46like he was six foot five. He had an attitude to him. And it's one of the reasons why Lindsey
00:51Graham was Lindsey Graham.
00:52But he would walk into the United States Senate and he would he would slap you on the back. He
00:57would greet the person who served his food. He treated everybody the same because he was fascinated and he loved
01:04every single person in this chamber. And that's a great testament to the man.
01:08I first got to know Lindsey Graham when I was on the Senate campaign trail for my own Senate race
01:14in 2022. And I remember riding in the back of the car with him, you know, during these campaigns, you
01:20go from one event to the next and to the next event.
01:22And I remember learning a lot from him. I had a lot of people who campaigned with me during that
01:27time. But I learned something from Lindsey Graham, the way that he interacted with people, the way that he was
01:33so interested in what was going on and what was moving people and what was motivating them and what they
01:38were interested in.
01:39That affection and love of people was obvious even on the campaign trail. But so, too, was Lindsey Graham's world
01:47-class sense of humor.
01:49And in one event in particular, we had just left one event. We were riding in the back of the
01:53car going to the next event.
01:55Lindsey Graham told me a story about his time in the house. And if I repeated exactly what he told
02:02me, Darlene, it would be the end of my political career forever.
02:05But what I can say is that I was laughing so hard that by the time we got to the
02:11next event, I had abdominal cramps and I was barely able to speak because Lindsey Graham could make anybody laugh
02:18and he could make anybody feel at home.
02:20I was talking to, you know, a mutual friend of ours, a person who didn't always agree with Lindsey Graham's
02:25politics just shortly after his death.
02:28And I expected the person maybe to say something critical, but he said, you know what, even though we sometimes
02:33disagreed, I loved Lindsey Graham.
02:36It was impossible not to like him. That swashbuckling, infectious laugh, that attitude, that passion that so many others have
02:45talked about.
02:46Lindsey Graham was impossible not to like as a human being and, of course, as a United States senator.
02:53If you wanted an FBI investigation, you could have come to us. What you want to do is destroy this
02:59guy's life, hold this seat open and hope you win in 2020.
03:04You've said that, not me. You've got nothing to apologize for.
03:11When you see Sotomayor and Kagan, tell them that Lindsey said, oh, because I voted for them.
03:16I would never do to them what you've done to this guy. This is the most unethical sham since I've
03:25been in politics.
03:27And if you really wanted to know the truth, you sure as hell wouldn't have done what you've done to
03:31this guy.
03:32Are you a gang rapist?
03:35No.
03:39I cannot imagine what you and your family have gone through.
03:44Boy, y'all want power. God, I hope you never get it.
03:47I hope the American people can see through this sham, that you knew about it and you held it.
03:52You had no intention of protecting Dr. Ford. None.
03:57She's as much of a victim as you are.
04:00God, I hate to say it because these have been my friends.
04:03But let me tell you, when it comes to this, you're looking for a fair process.
04:09You came to the wrong town at the wrong time, my friend.
04:14Do you consider this a job interview?
04:18The advice and consent role is like a job interview.
04:20Do you consider that you've been through a job interview?
04:23I've been through a process of advice and consent under the Constitution.
04:27Would you say you've been through hell?
04:30I've been through hell and then some.
04:33This is not a job interview.
04:35Yeah.
04:36This is hell.
04:37This is going to destroy the ability of good people to come forward because of this crap.
04:45You're a high school yearbook.
04:49You have interacted with professional women all your life, not one accusation.
04:54You're supposed to be Bill Cosby when you're a junior and senior in high school.
05:00And all of a sudden, you got over it.
05:03It's been my understanding that if you drug women and rape them for two years in high school,
05:10you probably don't stop.
05:12Here's my understanding.
05:14If you lived a good life, people would recognize it like the American Bar Association has the gold standard.
05:23His integrity is absolutely unquestioned.
05:27He is the very circumspect in his personal conduct, harbors no biases or prejudices.
05:33He's entirely ethical, is a really decent person.
05:37He is warm, friendly, unassuming.
05:39He's the nicest person.
05:43The ABA.
05:44And one thing I can tell you, you should be proud of.
05:47Ashley, you should be proud of this, that you raised a daughter who had the good character to pray for
05:56Dr. Ford.
05:57To my Republican colleagues, if you vote no, you're legitimizing the most despicable thing I have seen in my time
06:07in politics.
06:08You want this seat?
06:10I hope you never get it.
06:12I hope you're on the Supreme Court.
06:14That's exactly where you should be.
06:17And I hope that the American people will see through this charade.
06:22And I wish you well, and I intend to vote for you.
06:26And I hope everybody who's fair-minded will.
06:31I remember once I got to the Senate, getting in this argument with Lindsey.
06:36And as John said, as Leader Thune said, he was a fierce defender of Ukraine.
06:40And he and I got into this intense argument at a Senate lunch.
06:44I think some of our colleagues probably remember this.
06:48And I remember at the end of it going back to my staff, and I was at the time working
06:53on a rail legislation that I really, really cared about.
06:57And I remember going back to my staff and saying, well, that's probably the end of Lindsey's vote on the
07:02railway bill,
07:03because he is never going to support anything I support after the argument that he and I just had.
07:09And, of course, I found out a couple of weeks later from another Senate colleague that the fiercest advocate of
07:16that bill behind the scenes was Senator Lindsey Graham.
07:20Now, Lindsey was who he was, and I knew that Lindsey couldn't even pretend to care about rail policy.
07:27It was something I really cared about, but it wasn't something Lindsey was particularly focused on.
07:32And so I went to Lindsey and I said, why are you helping me?
07:36Why are you helping this legislation?
07:37And I expected him to do what so many politicians would do.
07:41I expected him to lie and say, well, I really care about rail legislation.
07:47And he said, oh, I don't care about that at all.
07:50I said, why are you helping me?
07:52And he said, well, I don't care about it, but you do.
07:55And that was the kind of colleague he could be, a person you argued with and fought with in one
08:00minute,
08:00but behind the scenes without collecting an ounce of credit was working for you and working for the things that
08:07you cared about in the next.
08:09That was who Lindsey Graham was.
08:13Amen.
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