--- title: Lindsey Graham Won't Vote Donald Trump: Interview Transcript description: Here's what the South Carolina Senator said on Friday about not supporting presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump for president canonical: https://time.com/4321926/lindsey-graham-donald-trump-interview-comments-transcript/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-06T21:42:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:12.271Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read Lindsey Graham's Interview Saying He Won't Vote Trump og:description: "I think embracing Donald Trump is embracing demographic death" og:url: https://time.com/4321926/lindsey-graham-donald-trump-interview-comments-transcript/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9492c2d6c87a5769/6988924c428a9e1cbacd287e/lindsey-graham-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: US-MILIKEN-CONFERENCE og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read Lindsey Graham's Interview Saying He Won't Vote Trump twitter:description: "I think embracing Donald Trump is embracing demographic death" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9492c2d6c87a5769/6988924c428a9e1cbacd287e/lindsey-graham-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read Lindsey Graham's Interview Announcing He Won't Vote for Donald Trump > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly May 6, 2016 9:42 PM UTC  Sen. Lindsay Graham speaks during a panel at the 2016 Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California on May 3. Sen. Lindsay Graham speaks during a panel at the 2016 Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California on May 3.Frederic J. Brown—AFP/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly May 6, 2016 9:42 PM UTC South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, a [former Republican candidate](http://time.com/4156847/lindsey-graham-drops-out-presidential-race/) in the current presidential race, [said Friday that he would not vote](http://time.com/4321514/lindsey-graham-donald-trump-gop-convention/) for presumptive GOP nominee [Donald Trump](http://time.com/4317397/donald-trump-presumptive-nominee-indiana-primary-november-hillary-clinton/) or likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Here are Graham’s complete remarks from his [CNN interview](http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/06/politics/lindsey-graham-donald-trump-hillary-clinton-not-vote/) announcing the decision. --- > “” --- **Read more:** [Donald Trump Celebrates Cinco de Mayo With a Taco Bowl: ‘I Love Hispanics!’](http://time.com/4320045/donald-trump-hispanics-tweet-taco-bowl-cinco-de-mayo/) --- > “” --- **Read more:** [Paul Ryan Says He Can’t Support Donald Trump—Yet](http://time.com/4320139/donald-trump-paul-ryan-republican-party/) --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4321926/lindsey-graham-donald-trump-interview-comments-transcript/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4321926/lindsey-graham-donald-trump-interview-comments-transcript/"},"headline":"Read Lindsey Graham's Interview Announcing He Won't Vote for Donald Trump","datePublished":"2016-05-06T21:42:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:12.271Z","description":"\"I think embracing Donald Trump is embracing demographic death\"","url":"https://time.com/4321926/lindsey-graham-donald-trump-interview-comments-transcript/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election","Donald Trump","transcripts"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9492c2d6c87a5769/6988924c428a9e1cbacd287e/lindsey-graham-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9492c2d6c87a5769/6988924c428a9e1cbacd287e/lindsey-graham-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-MILIKEN-CONFERENCE","caption":"US-MILIKEN-CONFERENCE","creditText":"Frederic J. 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