Lindsey Graham on Mattis' Trump criticism: "You're missing something here, my friend"

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Thursday that former Defense Secretary James Mattis' criticism of President Trump's response to mass protests in the wake of George Floyd's killing was "unfair" during an interview on "Fox & Friends."

What he's saying: "To General Mattis, I think you're missing something here, my friend. You're missing the fact that the liberal media has taken every event in the last three-and-a-half years and laid it at the president's feet."

• "I'm not saying he's blameless, but I am saying that you're buying into a narrative that I think is, quite frankly, unfair."
• "You don't quite understand that from the time President Trump wakes up until he goes to bed, there's an effort to destroy his presidency. ... It is so fashionable to blame President Trump for every wrong in America," Graham said earlier in the interview.

The backdrop: Mattis, a retired Marine Corps four-star general who served in the Trump administration between 2017 and 2019, condemned his former boss for making a "mockery of our Constitution."

• Trump later tweeted that he was "glad" that Mattis is no longer part of his Cabinet.