Sen. Lindsey Graham ripped President Donald Trump for tweeting that a noose found in NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace’s garage stall at the Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama was a "hoax."
The Republican lawmaker from South Carolina defended Wallace, one of the sport’s leading Black drivers.
During a Monday interview with Fox News Radio's Brian Kilmeade, Graham said it “made perfect sense” that Wallace was concerned about the noose found in his garage stall. He also defended NASCAR’s decision to ban the Confederate flag at its events.
"What I would tell people from outside of South Carolina that NASCAR is trying to grow the sport and one way you grow the sport is you take images that divide us and ask that they not be brought into the venue," Graham said of the Confederate flag ban.
On Monday, Trump tweeted that the noose incident and the decision to ban Confederate flags “has caused the lowest ratings EVER!” He asked if Wallace had apologized for “another HOAX” referring to the noose.
An investigation found the noose was not targeted at Wallace and had been hanging in the stall for months.
Graham said Wallace doesn’t have “anything to apologize for."
"Even though it was a noose created to hold the door open, in the times in which we live there's a lot of anxiety. So what did you see? You saw the best in NASCAR. When there was a chance that it was a threat against Bubba Wallace, they all rallied to Bubba's side. So I would be looking to celebrate that kind of attitude more than being worried about it being a hoax," Graham told Kilmeade.
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