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- Lindsey Graham told a crowd of Michigan Republicans that he hopes Donald Trump runs again in 2024, per The Detroit News.
- Three days before, Trump trashed Graham, saying that the South Carolina lawmaker should be "ashamed" of himself.
- Graham has been an on-and-off ally of Trump, initially being an outspoken critic of the former president.
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Sen. Lindsey Graham told a crowd in Michigan on Saturday night that he hopes former President Donald Trump runs again in 2024, according to The Detroit News.
Speaking on the second day of the Mackinac Republican Party's Leadership Conference, The Detroit News reported that Graham elicited cheers from the crowd when he shared his hopes for Trump's political future.
"I don't think Trump is listening. He might be," Graham reportedly said. "I hope President Trump runs again."
The comments come three days after Graham was trashed by the former president – an "on-and-off ally" of his.
Earlier this week, new claims emerged that Graham and Sen. Mike Lee had personally investigated Trump's allegations that the 2020 election was stolen. According to "Peril," a new book by journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, Graham found his evidence provided to him to be elementary and suitable for "third grade."
Trump responded to the new claims by stating his Save America PAC on Wednesday night, per The Hill, in which he was critical of the South Carolina lawmaker.
"I spent virtually no time with Senators Mike Lee of Utah, or Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, talking about the 2020 Presidential Election Scam or, as it is viewed by many, the 'Crime of the Century,'" said the statement. "Lindsey and Mike should be ashamed of themselves for not putting up the fight necessary to win."
In the statement, Trump also accused him of "letting the Democrats get away with the greatest Election Hoax in history."
Graham didn't explicitly respond to Trump's jibes on Saturday night, The Detroit News reported, but did say that the former president can be "a handful" and suggested that he "turn it down a notch."
He added that, in recent years, they have come to find common ground. "I've come to like him, and he likes him," Graham joked to the crowd.
Graham was initially an outspoken critic of Trump. He called him a "kook," a "race-baiting bigot," and "the most flawed nominee in the history of the Republican Party" during the 2016 election.
They eventually smoothed over the cracks in their fractious relationship during a meeting in 2017, according to the New Yorker, and Graham became a dependable ally of the former president.