在参议员林赛·格雷厄姆周五多次出现在肖恩·哈尼蒂的节目中，共和党议员为唐纳德·特朗普总统杀害伊朗军事领导人卡西姆·苏莱曼尼的决定辩护，称将军“签署了自己的死刑执行令”

格雷厄姆接受福克斯新闻系列采访之前，特朗普宣布下令无人机袭击，导致苏莱曼尼周四在伊拉克旅行时死亡。伊朗很快发誓要反击，这导致人们猜测，总统竞选时承诺“结束中东无休止的战争”，他可能已经挑起了新的战争。

主持人肖恩·哈尼蒂介绍他的客人说:“你对苏莱曼尼了解很多。我的研究表明，很多年前你提到过他，还有约翰·麦凯恩。”

“是的，我知道他死了。”格雷厄姆回答道。“他死亡的原因——他签署了自己的死刑执行令——是他误判了唐纳德·特朗普。在承包商被索莱马尼控制的什叶派民兵杀害后，[总统决定不再容忍任何针对美国利益的袭击。我们当场抓住了那个策划另一次袭击的家伙，总统杀了他，世界变得更安全了。”

美国承包商，一名为国防部工作的平民，在1997年被杀害导弹袭击美国军事基地12月27日在伊拉克北部。美国情报官员立即怀疑伊拉克支持的什叶派民兵组织可能是此次袭击的幕后黑手。作为负责域外行动——包括支持伊拉克民兵等海外代理团体——的伊朗革命卫队分支——圣城军的指挥官，苏莱曼尼经常被西方媒体称为“影子指挥官”。

虽然两党的美国国会议员都很快谴责索莱马尼死后留下的军事遗产，但也有人对总统似乎无视《战争权力决议》表示失望，该决议指出:"总统在任何可能的情况下，在将美国武装部队引入敌对行动或情况清楚表明即将卷入敌对行动之前，都应与国会协商..."

格雷厄姆在与汉尼蒂一起露面时说:“对我的民主党同事们来说:每个总司令都有保护我们在战场上的部队的固有权力。他有他需要的所有授权。对国会女议员奥马尔:你希望总统做什么？袖手旁观，看着人们被杀？”

格雷厄姆在周六早上的推特上重申了这一观点。这位参议员从周四开始就在社交媒体上非常活跃，为总统辩护。

众议院进步民主党“小组”成员伊尔汉·奥马尔(Ilhan Omar)当天早些时候再次与共和党同事顶撞，他在推特上称苏莱曼尼遇刺是“分散注意力”，并指责总统想要发动战争。

汉尼蒂抓住机会重复了他最喜欢的对民主党的批评之一。“现在想象一下，比方说，六个月之后，一年之后，我们发现我们有可操作的情报，在巴格达的索莱马尼机场，特朗普总统什么也没做。他们会因此弹劾他，就像如果他现在治愈了癌症，他们会弹劾他一样，”他说。

格雷厄姆同意了，然后转而支持总统的军事策略。“他采取了防御的方式，先发制人的方式，”这位参议员说，并重复了索莱马尼在去世时一直在策划袭击美国人的论点。

“问题是:下一步是什么？”格雷厄姆继续说道。对伊朗政权来说——我不知道你是否看过肖恩的节目，但你可能应该看——如果你再来找我们，我们会再来找你。如果你增加赌注，你最好关心你的油田，”格雷厄姆打趣道。

“嘿，参议员，昨晚我碰巧喜欢你的推特，”汉尼蒂插话说，格雷厄姆发出警告。

“继续这样发推，你就能和总统在一起了，”汉尼蒂在他们签字的时候催促道。

2019年12月18日，在DC华盛顿，参议员林赛·格雷厄姆抵达美国国会大厦办公室外对记者发表讲话，对特朗普总统弹劾条款的辩论仍在继续。1月3日，格雷厄姆在福克斯新闻节目《汉尼蒂》中为特朗普杀害伊朗军事领导人卡西姆·索莱马尼的命令辩护。

LINDSEY GRAHAM DEFENDS TRUMP AFTER SOLEIMANI KILLING: IRANIAN GENERAL 'SIGNED HIS OWN DEATH WARRANT'

During one of Sen. Lindsey Graham's multiple appearances on Sean Hannity's shows Friday, the Republican lawmaker defended President Donald Trump's decision to kill Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani, saying the general "signed his own death warrant."

Graham's series of Fox News interviews followed the announcement that Trump had ordered the drone strike that killed Soleimani as he was traveling through Iraq on Thursday. Iran quickly vowed to hit back, leading to speculation that the president, who campaigned on a promise to "end endless wars" in the Middle East, may have instigated a new one.

Host Sean Hannity introduced his guest saying: "You know a lot about Soleimani. My research show you were mentioning him, along with John McCain, many years ago."

"Yeah, I know he's dead." Graham replied. "And the reason he's dead—he signed his own death warrant—he miscalculated Donald Trump. After the contractor was killed from Shia militia controlled by Soleimani, [the] president made a decision he would not tolerate any more attacks against American interests. And we caught the guy red-handed planning another attack and the president killed him and the world is safer."

The American contractor, a civilian working for the Department of Defense, was killed in a missile attack on a U.S. military base in Northern Iraq on December 27. U.S. intelligence officials immediately suspected that Iraq's Iran-backed Shiite militias may have been behind the assault. As commander of the Quds Force, the branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps responsible for extraterritorial operations—including support for proxy groups abroad such as the Iraqi militias— Soleimani was often called the "Shadow Commander" in Western headlines.

While U.S. lawmakers on both sides of the aisle were quick to condemn Soleimani's military legacy following his death, some also expressed dismay at the the president's seeming disregard for the War Powers Resolution, which states: "The President in every possible instance shall consult with Congress before introducing United States Armed Forces into hostilities or into situations where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated by the circumstances..."

During his appearance with Hannity, Graham said: "And to my Democratic colleagues: Every commander in chief has the inherent authority to protect our troops in the field. He had all the authorization he needs. And to Congresswoman Omar: What would you want the president to do? Sit on the sidelines and watch people get killed?"

Graham reiterated the remark in a Saturday morning tweet. The senator has been very active on social media since Thursday, posting defenses of the president.

Rep. Ilhan Omar, a member of the House of Representatives' progressive Democrat "squad," had once again butted heads with Republican colleagues earlier in the day with a tweet calling Soleimani's assassination a "distraction" and accusing the president of wanting a war.

Hannity jumped at the opportunity to repeat one of his favorite criticisms of Democrats. "Now imagine, say, six months, a year from now, we found out we had actionable intelligence that at Baghdad's airport Soleimani was there and President Trump did nothing. They'd want to impeach him for that, like they'd impeach him if he cured cancer at this point," he said.

Graham concurred before pivoting back to his defense of the president's military tactics. "He acted in a defensive way, in a preemptive way," the senator said, repeating the argument that Soleimani had been plotting an attack at on Americans at the time of his death.

"And here's the question: What's next?" Graham continued. To the Iranian regime—I don't know if you watch Sean's show or not, but you probably should—If you come after us again, we'll come after you again. If you up the ante, you better be concerned about your oil fields," Graham quipped.

"Hey senator, I happened to like your tweet last night," Hannity interjected as Graham issued warnings.

"Keep tweeting like that, you're getting right up there with the president," Hannity urged as they signed off.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) arrives to speak to reporters outside of his office at the U.S. Capitol as debate on the articles of impeachment against President Trump continues on December 18, 2019 in Washington, DC. On January 3 Graham went on the Fox News show 'Hannity' to defend Trump's order to kill Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani.