President Trump is earning pushback from some
Republicans for comparing the House of Representatives' impeachment inquiry to a "lynching," but not from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). Trump declared the inquiry a "lynching" in a tweet Tuesday morning, with this inflammatory comparison instantly drawing condemnation from
Democrats, with Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), member of the Congressional Black Caucus, tweeting, "Do you know how many people who look like me have been lynched, since the inception of this country, by people who look like you."House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) isn't supporting Trump's comparison, in a news conference Tuesday saying it's "not the language I would use" and making clear that "I don't agree" with it. Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) similarly said Tuesday that while he agrees with Trump's complaints about the inquiry, "I wouldn't use the word lynching," per
NBC News' Frank Thorp. Scott's South Carolina colleague Graham, however, came to Trump's defense and took no issue with the comparison. "This is a lynching in every sense," Graham told reporters.Asked about the comparison Tuesday,
White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley claimed Trump "wasn't trying to compare himself to the horrific history in this country at all."