Lindsey Graham Gossips with Russian Pranksters Posing as the Turkish Minister of Defense
By Eva Lynch
South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham was prank-called by two Russian radio hosts posing as the Turkish minister of defense, according to a statement released by his office on Thursday.
The pranking duo is comprised of Alexey Stolyarov and Vladimir Kuznetsov, whom The Guardian reports have done this before with Elton John and other high profilers in United States and Europe. The pair operates under the names Lexus and Vovan, and some suspect ties with Russian intelligence, according to Politico.
According to the audio of the call, the conversation primarily surrounded Graham’s and the President’s sentiments about the recent happenings in the Middle East, which Graham and the President have not been quiet about. Even though he is usually a steadfast defender of Trump’s foreign policy decisions, Graham was among the lawmakers who condemned President Trump’s decision to remove American troops from Syria’s border with Turkey.
These opposers assailed POTUS’ decision that put American allies directly in harm’s way and warned of the long-term ramifications this decision may entail. These include a possible resurgence of the Islamic State and the loss of valued U.S. allies.
However, these previous comments, supported in a tweet on Wednesday in which Graham called for his followers to “pray for our Kurdish allies who have been shamelessly abandoned by the Trump Administration” seem to contradict Graham’s comments on the call.
“Your YPG Kurdish problem is a big problem,” Graham warned whom he thought was Turkish Minister of Defense Hulusi Akar.
“I told President Trump that Obama made a huge mistake in relying on the YPG Kurds,” he continued. “Everything I worried about has come true, and now we have to make sure Turkey is protected from this threat in Syria. I’m sympathetic to the YPG problem, and so is the President, quite frankly.”
According to Politico, a few days following the original call, Graham participated in a second call in which he recounted a meeting with Donald Trump during which they discussed Graham’s call with the pranksters, and relayed the President’s desire for a better relationship with Turkey.
Graham further suggested on the second prank call that President Trump would offer help, “within the limits of his power,” to the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the Reza Zarrab case. According to CNN, this references an earlier report that Rudy Guiliani used a 2017 Oval Office meeting with the President to pressure then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to agree to a prisoner swap that would result in the release of Reza Zarrab, a Turkish businessman and client of Giuliani who was accused of violating Iran sanctions. Tillerson reportedly refused because it would interfere with an ongoing investigation.
Kevin Bishop, a spokesman for Graham, that this instance is the one successful prank on the Senator, among many attempts. Of Graham’s contradicting comments on the situation in the Middle East, Bishop maintained that the comments reflected Graham’s and the President’s shared pursuit of a better relationship with Turkey.
“With Turkey’s invasion into northern Syria the drive for better relations between our two countries has suffered a body blow,” Bishop said. “Turkey should immediately withdraw their military forces and America should reinstitute the safe zone concept to keep the peace in the region. Until this is done, Senator Graham will continue to push for severe, biting sanctions against Turkey.”Recent reports claim Vice President Pence is planning a trip to Turkey to meet with Erdogan and discuss further actions. President Trump has enacted new sanctions on Turkey in an attempt to suppress the possible reemergence of the Islamic State. Newly-appointed ambassador to Turkey David Satterfield arrived in Ankara at the beginning of the month and has not yet commented on this situation.
