Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who has been in Russia’s crosshairs since an edited video emerged last week of comments claiming the South Carolina senator said his soldiers dying in Ukraine “is the best money we’ve ever spent,” followed by another sarcastic jab on Monday, hours after Russia issued an arrest warrant for him.
“Here is an offer to my Russian “friends” who want to arrest me and put me on trial for calling the [President Vladimir] Putin’s regime as war criminals: I will submit to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court if you do,” Graham said on Monday.
The sarcastic Republican from South Carolina ended by saying, “Come on and make your best case. See you in The Hague!
The Hague, a city in the Netherlands, is home to the International Criminal Court, an entity that has filed its own arrest warrant for Putin, who faces a slew of war crime charges for invading Ukraine and allegedly sent his children to Russia without permission. .
RT chief calls for Lindsey Graham to be killed after video is edited
Graham provoked fury in Moscow on Friday when his “best money ever spent” remark – made during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – was shared millions of times online.
In the leaked video of the meeting, Graham appears to be saying that the Russians who die in the invasion are “the best money we’ve ever spent.” However, in a full video released by Zelensky’s office, Graham’s comment about US spending related to US aid, not the deaths of Russian soldiers.
The video, however, was widely shared across Russia. Among those furious was Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the Russian propaganda site Russia today. The Russian reporter didn’t just call for Graham’s arrest, but hinted that she hopes an assassination plot is in the works.
Quoting Pavel A. Sudoplatov, the infamous Soviet for coordinating overseas assassinations in the mid-19th century, Simonyan said she hoped the Russian’s grandchildren or students would be there to take out Graham.
“It’s not even difficult,” Simonyan told Russian television. “We have his address.”
Speaking on Memorial Day, Graham told reporters he wears the arrest warrant as a badge of honor, just as he has done in the past when ruffling feathers in Moscow.
Last spring, two months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Graham called for Putin to be fatally stabbed by his own students, a la Julius Caesar. In February, he told China it would be “dumber than dirt” to ship arms to Putin and Russia – comments which have drawn ire from the two Asian superpowers.
“Knowing that my commitment to Ukraine has drawn the ire of the Putin regime brings me immense joy,” Graham said. “I will continue to defend and defend the freedom of Ukraine until every Russian soldier is expelled from Ukrainian territory.”
Learn more about The Daily Beast.
Get the Daily Beast’s biggest scoops and scandals straight to your inbox. Register now.
Stay informed and get unlimited access to The Daily Beast’s unrivaled reports. Subscribe now.