Senator Lindsey Graham told Donald Trump his legacy may end up being the January 6 attack at the Capitol unless he helps the GOP take back control of the House and Senate in 2022, according to a book.
Graham is alleged to have told the former president that he fears "Trumpism" may die out unless the Republican Party controls both branches of government and that he could be the one to guide them to victory.
The claims have been made in the recently released book Peril, written by Watergate journalist Bob Woodward and The Washington Post reporter Robert Costa.
"If we come back in 2022 and recapture the House and take back the Senate, you'll get your fair share of credit. If we fail to take back the House and the Senate in 2022, Trumpism, I think, will die. January 6 will be your obituary," an extract of the book which was shared on Twitter by Costa, reads.
"If we don't win in 2022, we're screwed."
According to the book, the South Carolina Republican's phone call with Trump took place after the Democrats passed President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill in June, which had been opposed by a number of conservative figures.
Graham then urged Trump to use his influence to help the GOP take control of Congress once more in the midterm elections, paving a way for him to formally declare he will run for office in 2024.
The Democrats took control of the Senate earlier this year after Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue lost runoff elections to Democratic challengers Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. Although, just a single loss to the Republicans in 2022 would put the Senate back in control of the GOP.
The Democrats currently hold an eight seat majority in the House, with three vacant seats to be decided in upcoming elections.
Peril claims that Graham told Trump "the greatest comeback in American history is possible" if he helps the GOP control Congress and ultimately return as president.
"You've been written off as dead because of January the 6th. The conventional wisdom is that the Republican Party, under your leadership, has collapsed," an extract states, as previously reported by Business Insider.
"If you, as the party leader, could lead us to a 2022 victory and you came back to take the White House, it would be the biggest comeback in American history."
Graham has been contacted for comment.
Trump has given his endorsement to dozens of Republicans across all levels, which political scientist Wayne Lesperance described to Fox News as "unheard of in recent political memory."
There are already fears that the people who Trump is deciding to give his backing are the ones who are willing to back the so-called "Big Lie" that he lost the 2020 election because of widespread voter fraud.
Trump has already endorsed secretaries of state candidates in key three battlegrounds—Arizona, Michigan and Georgia—in which he and his supporters have frequently insisted he won in 2020.
"It is incredibly dangerous to support people for office who do not accept the legitimacy of the 2020 election. It suggests that they might be willing to bend or break the rules when it comes to running elections and counting votes in the future," Rick Hasen, a professor of law and political science and co-director of the Fair Elections and Free Speech Center at the University of California, told CNN.
"Someone who claims falsely that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump lacks credibility and cannot be trusted to run a fair election."
