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By Darragh Roche
US News Reporter
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Senator Lindsey Graham said he doesn't believe that Donald Trump can have a fair trial if it's held in Washington, D.C., following the former president's Tuesday indictment.
Graham, a Republican who represents South Carolina, told Fox News on Wednesday that the judge set to preside in the former president's case hates Trump. The senator made the comments after Trump was indicted on charges arising from Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Fox News host Sean Hannity asked Graham if he believed Trump could get a fair trial "in most venues, adding that he didn't believe he could.
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"Well, Sean, any conviction in D.C. against Donald Trump is not legitimate," Graham responded, adding that "they're charging him with a crime of taking bad legal advice. That's what this is about. They're trying to criminalize the attorney-client relationship. They're trying to criminalize exercising the First Amendment."
"The judge in this case hates Trump," Graham said. "You can convict Trump of kidnapping Lindbergh's baby in D.C. You need to have a change of venue. We need a new judge. And we need to win in 2024 to stop this crazy crap."
The senator was referring to the 1932 case involving the abduction and death of the 20-month-old son of aviators Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh. A German immigrant was subsequently convicted, but questions have lingered about his guilt.
Newsweek reached out to Graham's office via email for further comment.
A video clip of Graham's remarks shared online by user Acyn had been viewed more than 900,000 times as of early Thursday morning.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who will oversee Trump's case, is known as the "toughest punisher" of participants in the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. The judge also previously ruled against Trump as part of his bid to withhold documents from the House Select Committee, which was investigating the events of January 6.
Chutkan was appointed by former President Barack Obama in 2014 and previously donated $1,500 to Obama For America between 2008 and 2009, according to official documents.
John Lauro, an attorney representing Trump, made a similar case in an interview with NPR on Wednesday, saying Trump "got advice from counsel—very, very wise and learned counsel—on a variety of constitutional and legal issues. So, it's a very straightforward defense that he had every right to advocate for a position that he believed in and his supporters believed in."
Lauro said that he would like to see a change of venue and cited West Virginia as a possible alternative to D.C.
A grand jury indicted Trump on Tuesday on four charges in the Capitol riot probe, which include conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights.
Trump denies all wrongdoing and he has repeatedly criticized the special counsel's probe, claiming it's politically motivated. In a social media post on Tuesday, he accused Smith of "Prosecutorial Misconduct."
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