South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said his meeting with the president focused mostly on the border and the number of illegal crossings as Trump faces certain bipartisan defeat on his emergency declaration in the Senate. | Alex Wong/Getty Images National Emergency Graham: Trump says GOP senators opposing him are ‘playing with fire’

President Donald Trump said Senate Republicans considering opposition to his emergency declaration on the border are "playing with fire," according to Sen. Lindsey Graham, who met with the president on Tuesday morning.

The South Carolina Republican said his meeting with the president focused mostly on the border and the number of illegal crossings as Trump faces certain bipartisan defeat on his emergency declaration in the Senate later this month.


Four Republican senators have said they will join 47 Senate Democrats in voting to block the national emergency declaration, though Trump will veto it and Congress likely won't be able to muster the votes to override it. And though Trump is not waging a massive campaign to convert Republicans to his side, he's acutely aware of the politics of the issue.

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"He says he thinks Republicans are playing with fire here because most Republicans, anyway, most people I hope, will see that the border is in a state of crisis," Graham said, adding that Trump believes GOP senators that defy him are likely to face a political backlash. "That's his observation, but he's not out there calling people out or anything."

Graham said Trump also groused about the wide-ranging investigations launched by the Democratic House, and questioned why Democrats are eager to probe his administration and 2016 campaign but not cooperate on legislation.

"He believes they are taking a wrecking ball to his life. Clinton said that about us. They're going nuts," Graham said. "'It seems like nobody wants to solve any problems.' He said that a couple times. He said he's surprised. He thought it would be in everybody's interest [to do] infrastructure and stuff like that."