"I think he's worried that inquiring into what Russia did in the election is going to undermine his credibility and his legitimacy," Lindsey Graham said. | AP Photo Graham to Trump: We're not trying to undermine you

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham is trying to reassure President-elect Donald Trump that pushes for investigation into the role Russian hacks played in the election aren't about undermining his presidency.

"I think he's worried that inquiring into what Russia did in the election is going to undermine his credibility and his legitimacy," Graham said.


"Quite frankly, I haven't heard any Democrat at all of prominence say that we doubt that Donald Trump won. Putin's not the reason that Clinton lost and Trump won. I don't think anybody's saying that. So Mr. President-elect, that's not what we're trying to do. What we're trying to do is find out what the Russians did in our elections and make sure that other people including the Russians won't do it next time."

Graham and fellow Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, appearing jointly on NBC's "Meet the Press," are confident the Russian government was involved in the hacks of both the Democratic National Committee and of Clinton campaign Chairman John Podesta's email account. And, Graham said, Trump's exhortations to "move on" aren't very persuasive.

"Our lives are built around the idea that we're free people. That we go to the ballot box. That we, you know, have political contests outside of foreign interference," he said. "You can't go on with your life as a democracy when a foreign entity is trying to compromise the election process."