Soon-to-be presidential candidate Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) could be heard laughing on Saturday as he told a crowd of Iowa Republicans that if an American were suspected of associating with terrorists, he would order a drone to kill that person.
“If I’m President of the United States and you’re thinkin’ about joining al-Qaeda or ISIL — anybody thinkin’ about that? — I’m not going to call a judge, I’m going to call a drone and we will kill you,” Graham said at the Iowa Republican Party’s annual Lincoln Day Dinner fundraiser.
Audio of the remark was captured by NPR.
Graham, according to NPR, was distinguishing himself from presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who has expressed concern about drones and other policies chipping away at due process guaranteed in the Constitution.
Graham also defended likely presidential candidate and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R), who spent a week struggling to explain whether he still supported the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
“If you fought in Iraq it’s not your fault it’s going to hell,” Graham said. “It’s Obama’s fault.”
“The person I blame is Barack Obama not George W. Bush,” he said.