"I don't trust this story as far as I can throw it," Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said that "the entire storyline" that Jared Kushner proposed setting up a secret communications channel between the Trump transition team and the Kremlin is suspicious and could be based on Russian disinformation.





BASH: Senator, let's turn to the bombshell report from "The Washington Post" that Jared Kushner and the Russian ambassador discussed the possibility of setting up secret communications, a channel, with Moscow.



And Evan McMullin, the former Republican staffer who had a brief run for president, he tweeted that the report is -- quote -- "treasonous activity, whether born of malice, naivete or both."



Do you see it that way?



GRAHAM: Well, number one, we're chasing our tails as a nation when it comes to the Russians.



I don't know who leaked this supposed conversation. But just think about it this way. You have got to ambassador to Russia reporting back to Moscow on an open channel, hey, Jared Kushner is going to move into the embassy.



I don't trust this story as far as I can throw it.



BASH: In what way? Why don't you trust it?



GRAHAM: I think it makes no sense that the Russian ambassador would report back to Moscow on a channel that he most likely knows we're monitoring.



The whole storyline is suspicious. I have never been more concerned and suspicious about all things Russia than I am right now, so I'm not going to jump to the conclusion that Mr. McMullin jumped to.



BASH: So, you think that it is possible that what the ambassador, Kislyak, said to Moscow was on purpose, because he knew that he was being monitored, and -- and not accurate?



GRAHAM: That's a possibility.



Well, look at this way. Apparently, the FBI director intervened in the elections in July 2016 based on a fake e-mail generated by the Russians from the Democrats to the Department of Justice trying to shut down the e-mail investigation of Clinton.



If that was fake, why don't you think this is fake? I'm not so sure the e-mail that Comey relied upon was fake. But I can tell you this. He never briefed the Congress, the Judiciary Committee about any fake e-mail.



What he told the Intelligence Committee about this e-mail, he never suggested it was fake. So, if he intervened in the election -- election based on fake information generated by the Russians, that was an incredibly incompetent thing to do. So I don't really know who to believe anymore.