Sen. Lindsey Graham Lindsey Olin GrahamSenate GOP aims to confirm Trump court pick by Oct. 29: report The Hill's Campaign Report: GOP set to ask SCOTUS to limit mail-in voting Senate GOP sees early Supreme Court vote as political booster shot MORE (R-S.C.) was pressed Thursday night by a Fox News reporter over his 2017 remarks that there would be "hell to pay" if President Trump Donald John TrumpOmar fires back at Trump over rally remarks: 'This is my country' Pelosi: Trump hurrying to fill SCOTUS seat so he can repeal ObamaCare Trump mocks Biden appearance, mask use ahead of first debate MORE fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions Jefferson (Jeff) Beauregard SessionsGOP set to release controversial Biden report Trump's policies on refugees are as simple as ABCs Ocasio-Cortez, Velázquez call for convention to decide Puerto Rico status MORE.

In an interview on "The Story," host Martha MacCallum asked Graham about the comments now that Trump has fired Sessions.

After MacCallum played the clip, Graham laughed and asked when he made the comments.

“So, when was that?” Graham asked. “What year?”

"July of 2017," she answered. "Things have changed."

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Pausing for a moment, Graham said that Trump deserved an attorney general with whom he has "confidence" and said that the relationship between Trump and Sessions had been deteriorating for months.

“What I’ve been saying for months is every president deserves an attorney general they have confidence in and they can work with,” Graham said. “I like Jeff Sessions. I’ve known Jeff for a long time. I hope he goes and runs for his old Senate seat in Alabama. It’s clear to me it’s not working, was not working between Attorney General Sessions and President Trump.”

Graham went on to say that the Senate would continue to protect the special counsel, Robert Mueller Robert (Bob) MuellerCNN's Toobin warns McCabe is in 'perilous condition' with emboldened Trump CNN anchor rips Trump over Stone while evoking Clinton-Lynch tarmac meeting The Hill's 12:30 Report: New Hampshire fallout MORE, from undue interference from the White House as he continues his investigation into the Trump campaign and Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Sessions recused himself from Russian matters, and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Rod RosensteinDOJ kept investigators from completing probe of Trump ties to Russia: report Five takeaways from final Senate Intel Russia report FBI officials hid copies of Russia probe documents fearing Trump interference: book MORE appointed Mueller after Trump fired former FBI Director James Comey James Brien ComeyDemocrats fear Russia interference could spoil bid to retake Senate Book: FBI sex crimes investigator helped trigger October 2016 public probe of Clinton emails Trump jabs at FBI director over testimony on Russia, antifa MORE.

After firing Sessions, Trump named Matthew Whittaker, who has criticized the Mueller probe repeatedly, as acting attorney general. Whittaker now oversees the probe, and not Rosenstein.

Democrats have called on Whittaker, who was Sessions's chief of staff, to recuse himself from the Russian probe, something the Justice Department has indicated will not happen.

But Graham, who has grown into an increasingly close ally to the president over the past two years, downplayed any suggestion that the changes at Justice will limit or end the Mueller investigation.

“The bottom line is this is hysteria more than anything else,” Graham said. “I am here to tell you and everyone else that Mr. Mueller will be allowed to do his job, and hopefully that investigation will come to a conclusion here pretty soon.”