Lindsey Graham Questions What Nancy Pelosi Knew in Advance of Capitol Riot

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) called on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to reveal if she knew that rioters intended to “create violence” before they stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6.

Appearing on Fox News’ Hannity show on Wednesday, Graham said the narrative put out by Democrats that former President Donald Trump had incited the crowd before the insurrection at the Capitol Building had “fallen apart.”

The senator said FBI agents and Capitol Police officers believed the storming had been planned ahead of Trump’s speech at the D.C. rally, suggesting the planting of pipe bombs in the city between 7:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. ET on January 5 showed violence had been pre-planned.

Graham said: “The only reason they’re [Congress Democrats] trying to create this bizarre storyline that Trump was in on it, along with [former White House Deputy Chief of Staff] Dan Scavino, is that we now know that after impeachment, that was done without a lawyer, without a hearing and without any witnesses, that the FBI and the Capitol Hill police actually now understand this was actually pre-planned, planting bombs the night before.

“So, the whole storyline that Donald Trump caused this by his speech has fallen apart due to good law enforcement activity.

“And here’s what I want to know. What did Nancy Pelosi know and when did she know it? If this was widely known by the FBI and Capitol Hill police that people were planning to come to Washington before the sixth to create violence, I want to know did she know about that?”

Lindsey Graham called on Nancy Pelosi to say when she knew insurrectionsists intended to “create violence” at the Capitol Building. In this November 17 photo, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham presides over a hearing about the influence of social media companies on the 2020 electoin in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill November 17, 2020 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla / Staff/Getty

Graham continued: “The whole storyline originally was Trump created this from the speech. Now we know that people had this on their minds before he ever spoke.

“So, they’re [Congressional Democrats] are playing this bizarre game of trying to get Trump in on it before January the 6th. This is why you don’t want to have snap impeachments. Evidence really does matter.”

Graham’s comments come after the historic second impeachment trial opened against former President Trump, with lead House impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) saying on Wednesday: “He [Trump] assembled, inflamed and incited his followers to descend upon the Capitol.”

But, Graham appeared confident the former president would be acquitted for a second time.

Lindsey Graham appeared confident Trump would be acquitted for a second time

In a tweet posted on Wednesday night, Graham said: “The ‘Not Guilty’ vote is growing after today. I think most Republicans found the presentation by the House Managers offensive and absurd.”

He also responded to Democrats’ presentation of evidence that the self-described “Western chauvinists” Proud Boys had played a role in the storming of the Capitol Building.

Graham said on Wednesday’s Hannity show: “The managers have got this cockamamie idea, an absurd theory that Donald Trump was monitoring the Proud Boys website and other far-right websites and he and Dan Scavino knew this was going to happen and they encouraged it. That is Looney Tunes.”

At least seven alleged Proud Boys members have been charged following the insurrection in which five people died and hundreds of D.C. Metro Police and Capitol Police officers were injured.

Alleged San Francisco Proud Boys member Daniel Goodwyn said on Twitter on November 7 that the extremist group should “stand back and stand by” and “await orders from our Commander and Chief.”

Newsweek has contacted Pelosi’s office for comment.