Lindsey Graham urged police to use their guns during the Capitol riot, report says

• Lindsey Graham wanted a stronger police response to the Capitol riot, The Washington Post reported.
• "What are you doing? Take back the Senate! You've got guns. Use them," he reportedly told officers.

Sen. Lindsey Graham urged Capitol police officers to shoot at rioters who stormed the Capitol on January 6, The Washington Post reported on Sunday.

The Post's extensive account provides new details of the chaotic attack on the Capitol, including the panic as lawmakers rushed to evacuate.

Many were taken to a secure location, though some senators, Graham among them, remained on the Senate floor at first.

The Post described Graham as "irate that senators were forced to flee their own chamber."

"He yelled at the Senate sergeant-at-arms. 'What are you doing? Take back the Senate! You've got guns. Use them,'" the report said, citing a Republican senator with knowledge of the exchange.

The report said Graham repeated himself. "We give you guns for a reason," he said. "Use them."

The report also said Graham and other Republican senators tried to contact President Donald Trump and urge him to call off his supporters.

It said Graham called Ivanka Trump, the president's eldest daughter and advisor, "repeatedly with suggestions for what the president should say."

He was said to have told her: "This thing is going south. This is not good. You're going to have to tell these people to stand down. Stand down."

Ahead of the riot, Graham was among the senior Republicans promoting Trump's baseless claims that the election had been stolen from him.

The conspiracy theory was what drove Trump supporters to attack the Capitol, where lawmakers had gathered to certify Joe Biden's victory over Trump.

Five people died in the attack, including a Trump supporter, Ashli Babbitt, who was shot dead by a Capitol Police officer.

In October, Trump praised Babbitt, said her killing was not necessary, and demanded justice for her family.

In a statement to The Post, Trump's spokesperson described the people who marched on the Capitol as "agitators not associated with President Trump."

In a speech on the Senate floor after the riot, Graham appeared to abandon Trump and his claims of electoral fraud. "Count me out," Graham said.

Since then, Graham has remained close to Trump, who has stuck to his claims of a stolen election while seeming to prepare for another presidential campaign in 2024.