Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told Newsmax on Tuesday that regardless of how much he supports funding Ukraine against Russian aggression, even that has to take a backseat to first fixing "our broken border."
During an interview on "Eric Bolling The Balance," Graham said he's in lockstep with House Speaker Mike Johnson on this — "no money for anybody until we secure our border."
Graham began by saying there are four "important" items in the $106 billion supplemental funding bill put forth by President Joe Biden — Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan, and the southern border. But the last must come first.
"We need to secure our own frigging border. I'm not gonna send any money to Ukraine or anywhere else until we fix our broken border," Graham told Bolling.
Graham cited the testimony of FBI Director Christopher Wray, who told a Senate Judiciary hearing on Tuesday that the threat level on U.S. soil is at a "whole other level" since Israel was invaded by Hamas on Oct. 7.
"Our broken border is a danger and wherever [Wray] looks, he sees blinking lights," Graham said. "So I don't mind helping our allies stand up to the bad guys, but we've got to fix our own backyard here.
"No money for anybody until we secure our border," he said.
But Graham made it clear that funding Ukraine is of the utmost importance.
"You may not agree that Ukraine is important, but I do," he told Bolling.
However, the Biden administration has put the U.S. in historical dangers on the border.
"Here's what I'll tell you about terrorists — you may be tired of fighting them, but they're not tired of fighting you. You may want to let them go. I don't. I want to fight them over there so they don't come here. I'd like to have partners. That's the world we live in," Graham said. "These people would kill us, not just Israel, if they could get here. So if you leave it up to me, we're going to fight these (expletive) in their backyard, not ours.
"The point I'm trying to make is that the American border is more broken than I've ever seen it," Graham added. "I've never been more worried about a terrorist attack today than I am right now. Getting out of Afghanistan was dumber than dirt. Terrorism is on the rise, and they're coming here if we don't stop them.
"The border's your last line of defense, not your first line of defense."
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Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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