Sen. Graham’s message to Dems: ‘China is the problem, not Trump’ – Fox News

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Senate Judiciary Committee ChairmanLindsey Graham,R-S.C., had a message for Democrats on Sunday saying, China is the problem, not Trump.

Graham made the comment during an exclusive interview on Sunday Morning Futures three days after President Trump said he has seen evidence suggesting that the coronavirus originated from a laboratory in China.

The Democrats have empaneled a group tolook at Trump, not China, Graham said.

President Trump made very gooddecisions, very hard callsconsistently," he continued. "Not one Democrat has comeforward with any idea to holdChina accountable for killingover 60,000 Americans bywithholding information aboutthe virus and putting 30 millionAmericans out of work becausethats what we had to do to saveprobably 1 million lives.

He then urged Democrats to step up.

Trump was speaking to reporters on Thursday about protecting America's senior citizens when Fox News and othersasked if he knew of anything that gave him confidence that the outbreak originated in theWuhan Institute of Virology.

"Yes, I have," he said, withoutfurther explanation. "And, I think that the World Health Organization should be ashamed of themselves because theyre like the public relations agency for China."

The president announced last month that the United States would immediately halt funding for the health organization, saying it had put political correctness over lifesaving measures, noting that the U.S. would undertake a 60- to 90-day investigation into why the China-centric WHO had caused so much death by severely mismanaging and covering up the coronavirus spread.

Trump had also speculated about whether China knew about the virus sooner than it has led on and withheld information about the outbreak.

"It's a terrible thing that happened. Whether they made a mistake or whether it started off as a mistake and then they made another one or did somebody do something on purpose, Trump said on Thursday.

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Intelligence officials confirmed Thursday that an investigation has been ongoing into whether the pandemic was the result of an accident at theWuhan lab, a contradiction from the broad consensusthat it originated at a wet market in the city.

On Sunday Graham said, Ive got a bill thatsays were going to putsanctions on Chinas economyuntil they cooperate with theinvestigation about how thevirus came out of the lab,if it came out of the lab at all, closing the wet marketsthat create these pandemics, anddealing with the abuse againstthe Hong Kong democracyadvocates.

He went on to say that it doesnt matter what he and other Republicans do unless Democrats join their efforts.

It doesnt matterwhat I do or what [Texas Republican Sen.] Ted Cruz doesor [Arkansas Republican Sen.] Tom Cotton or [Tennessee Republican Sen.] MarshaBlackburn or [Arizona Republican Sen.] Martha McSally.Where is [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi and [New York Democratic Sen. Chuck] Schumer? Graham asked.

Weve all got good ideas on theRepublican side.The president wants to be tough.Where is the Democratic Party? he continued.

He urged Democrats not to give China a pass.

Graham then had a direct message for Pelosi, D-Calif., and Schumer.

He asked,Why dont you work withme and others to hold China accountablefor killing over 60,000Americans, and having 30 millionpeople lose their jobs?

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Theyreabsolutely AWOL[Absent Without Leave] when it comes toChina accountability, he continued. So none of this matters unless you canget Democrats involved.

Fox News Louis Casiano and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

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Sen. Graham's message to Dems: 'China is the problem, not Trump' - Fox News