Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) sidestepped a question about former President Trump's false claims during last week's debate.
CNN's Dana Bash pressed Graham on why it didn't give him "pause" that Trump made numerous false claims during the debate. Graham pivoted on CNN's "State of the Union," emphasizing that Trump had a very strong performance while President Biden did not.
"Well, I thought he had a very good night. People who watched the debate thought the same thing, too," he told Bash. "At the end of the day, he was strong, he was clear, he was coherent. But this idea that Biden had a bad night, that's not the story. He's had a bad presidency, had a disastrous debate."
"How could we get here? How could the American people see what they saw and not be forewarned? You have got a compliant media who's written off the problems with President Biden. They have tried to soft-sell this as attack by the right wing that he's compromised. There is no clean-fakes here," he added.
He then pointed to recent editorial pieces by The New York Times and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that called on Biden to step down from the race.
"The man is compromised, and the media has been covering. The policies of his administration are destroying the country. And The New York Times and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution warn him out, but they think he's a good president," he said. "He's not a good president. He's a decent man. He's a failed president. He is compromised. That's the storyline here."
When pressed further on whether he was comfortable with Trump saying he would only accept the results of the election if if "it was fair and legal and a good election," Graham affirmed that he was.
