Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) realized he may have gone a tad too far on Thursday night when he called on Russians to assassinate their president Vladimir Putin. Appearing on Fox News again on Friday morning, he instead called for Putin’s arrest. Addressing the Russian ambassador to the U.S., who called Graham’s initial comment a “call for terrorism,” Graham said, “Mr. Ambassador, you’re supporting a war criminal in Putin. Your country’s engaged in war crimes in front of the entire world. You need to apologize for the world for how Putin has destroyed your country blind.” He added, “When it comes to Putin, he needs to go to jail.” Graham sparked a flurry of outrage late Thursday, with critics questioning why a U.S. senator would encourage the assassination of a world leader in the middle of a war. A Twitter spokesperson told The Daily Beast that Graham’s tweets about assassination did not violate its rules on violent threats and incitement.
—Justin Baragona contributed to this report.
