Kaitlan Collins Taken Aback by Lindsey Graham Advising Benjamin Netanyahu in Unearthed 2024 Footage

CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins was visibly stunned during an episode of her show The Source after airing never-before-seen documentary footage of late Sen. Lindsey Graham instructing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on how to fight war crimes accusations.

Recorded in October 2024 by filmmaker Alex Holder for an unreleased documentary, the audio features Graham advising the Israeli PM on how to navigate ICC investigations into alleged war crimes.

In the conversation, Graham offers strategic advice to Netanyahu regarding U.S. lawmakers.

According to the unreleased documentary footage reported by The New York Times, Netanyahu noted that International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan was facing sexual misconduct allegations.

Netanyahu suggested that the resulting "cloud or this stain" could help delay the arrest warrants against Israeli leadership. Graham capitalized on this by orchestrating a bipartisan legislative push to weaponize the allegations and undermine the ICC’s case.

To secure the critical support of Democratic Senators Richard Blumenthal and Ben Cardin, Graham told Netanyahu exactly how to incentivize them.

Graham instructed Netanyahu to personally call both senators, telling him to thank them for being "fair-minded" and express deep interest in their work regarding Saudi-Israel normalization.

The late South Carolina Republican explicitly stated that a stroke of flattery would "encourage both of them" to sign on.

The lobbying strategy succeeded. On November 1, 2024, a bipartisan press release from Sen. Blumenthal's office and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmed that both Blumenthal and Cardin signed the letter.

The letter formally demanded that the ICC’s governing body investigate Khan, casting a "shadow" over the war crimes investigation just weeks before the court ultimately issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu.

The discussion takes a controversial turn when Graham comments on his lobbying efforts, remarking: "Pay me for all this. I should get tons of shekels.”

Following the clip, a visibly stunned Collins paused before offering a brief reaction to the revelations: "Wow," she exclaimed.

“What was interesting was Sen. Graham was instructing the prime minister what to do,” Holder said. “It also showed that he sort of felt that he was owed one, in the sense of ‘I’m sort of scratching your back, you scratch mine,’ and that for him was Saudi-Israel normalization. He was really pushing that. He was really trying to get the prime minister to come on board and do what he needed to do to make that deal happen.”

Holder told Collins that Graham’s influence was larger abroad than at home.

“The respect I think that he got from other leaders was fascinating to witness,” the filmmaker said.

“The calls that he would get from other senators or from other leaders around the world to help them on their various issues was really quite unbelievable to capture and to see. The access really was extraordinary, and he allowed us to peek behind the curtain,” he concluded.