Graham rips leaks, says 'people are taking the law in their own hands'

Sen. Lindsey Graham on Tuesday blasted the leakers behind a cascade of critical news stories on the Trump administration, telling Fox News: “People are taking the law in their own hands.”

Graham, R-S.C., was responding to The Washington Post report that Trump shared classified information about the fight against the Islamic State during a meeting with visiting Russian officials.

The White House has denied the account in the Post, while Trump himself defended the conversations he had as appropriate.

Graham told Fox News he’s never seen leaks like this.
“People are taking the law in their own hands. You may not like this president, you may not like what he’s doing, but it’s a crime to take classified information and this whole idea that I’m justified because there’s a greater good destroys the rule of law,” the senator said. “Those who feel a need to share classified information to get back at Trump need to find who those people are and punish them.”

Graham told Fox News he doesn’t know whether the latest account is true -- and would “caution the president” that information shared with Russia is “likely to end up in the wrong hands.”

He said the Obama administration also tried to share intelligence on air targets with Russia and Congress pushed back.

“Clearly the president didn’t do anything illegal, but my advice to the president would be: if you want to talk with the Russians about anything sensitive, run it through the system first,” Graham said.

Fox News’ Peter Doocy contributed to this report.