Sen. Graham: U.S. Should Boycott Winter Olympics If Russia Gives Snowden Asylum

FILE – In this Dec. 21, 2012, file photo Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speaks during a Capitol Hill news conference in Washington about the investigation of the deadly Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) suggested Tuesday that the United States should boycott the 2014 Winter Olympics if Russia offers asylum to National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden. 

Next year’s winter games are slated to be held in Sochi, Russia. 

“I would. I would just send the Russians the most unequivocal signal I could send them,” Graham told The Hill when asked about a possible boycott.

“It might help, because what they’re doing is outrageous,” Graham added. “We certainly haven’t reset our relationship with Russia in a positive way. At the end of the day, if they grant this guy asylum it’s a breach of the rule of law as we know it and is a slap in the face to the United States.” 

But Graham’s longtime ally on Capitol Hill, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), didn’t seem as receptive to a boycott.

“There’s many things we can do, but I think the experience of canceling the Olympics the last time around wasn’t very good,” McCain said, as quoted by The Hill.

The United States and the Soviet Union each boycotted the Olympics during the 1980s amid the Cold War. First, the U.S. boycotted the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, prompting the U.S.S.R. to boycott the summer games in Los Angeles four years later. 

Latest Livewire
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: