Former chief strategist to US President Donald Trump and MAGA commentator, Steve Bannon, has lashed out at US Senator Linsey Graham for his support for Ukraine and calling for further sanctions on Russia.
Sen. Graham (R–SC) was in Kyiv last week with Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D–CT) to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and argue for further sanctions on Russia and countries that buy sanctioned Russian exports. The senators said that the “Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025” bill should be introduced in the House of Representatives this week.
“The White House has to condemn this immediately and pull all support and tell Lindsey Graham to come home, or we are going to put you under arrest when you come home. You’re stirring it up,” Bannon said Monday on his “War Room” podcast.
“Lindsey Graham’s over there [in Kyiv] saying, ‘Hey, forget Trump, I got the House and the Senate, we’re going to pass [the bills]’; he’s stirring it up over there, he’s telling them they’ve got backing.”
Bannon has been one of the MAGA world’s most ardent critics of Ukraine and Zelensky, and has consistently warned of the dangers of escalation with Russia. Bannon still holds sway with large parts of the MAGA coalition and argues that the US should take an isolationist policy and cut off support for Ukraine.
Referencing yesterday’s attack on Russia’s aviation, Bannon expressed concern that the US did not have previous knowledge of the operation. “Either number one, if the White House didn’t have a heads up, that to me should be, you should condemn this attack today. You should say we’re pulling all support today. You should tell Lindsey Graham, get on the plane here, dude, and get back and stop stirring the pot.”
Bannon made further comments today in a later episode of his “War Room” podcast.
“The Ukrainians are going up the escalatory ladder at the exact moment when President Trump wants to come down the escalatory ladder and cut a deal,” said Bannon.
The podcast host continued to complain about Graham’s support for Kyiv, “Lindsey Graham is 100% against President Trump’s foreign policy. Lindsey Graham is the biggest neoliberal neocon in the Senate. He’s worse than McConnell,” said Bannon.
Benjamin Harnwell, a contributor to Bannon’s podcast, called for the US Department of Homeland Security’s secretary, Kristi Noem, to cancel Graham’s passport. “Don’t let him back into the United States, if he loves it so much over there [Ukraine], let him stay over there,” said Harnwell on Bannon’s program.
President Trump has signaled increased frustration with Russian leader Vladimir Putin but has refused to commit to further sanctions. The bill proposed by Senators Graham and Blumenthal could face a potential veto from Trump if it passes both the House and the Senate in the US Congress. But, it has been co-sponsored by 81 of 100 senators on a bipartisan basis, exceeding the two-thirds requirement to override a presidential veto.
Overriding a Trump veto would require a two-thirds vote in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has also said he supports the Graham-Blumenthal bill, which could mean fast-tracking to a floor vote in the lower congressional chamber. On Monday, Johnson told reporters: “There’s many members of Congress that want us to sanction Russia as strongly as we can. And I’m an advocate of that.”
According to Blumenthal’s official Senate website: “Companion legislation is being introduced in the US House of Representatives by US Representatives Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Mike Quigley (D-IL), Joe Wilson (R-SC), and Marcy Kaptur (D-OH).” A veto-proof two-thirds means 290 of 435 House members would have to vote for H.R. 2548 “Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025,” which currently has 33 bipartisan co-sponsors, 17 Democrats and 16 Republicans.
If all 215 Democrats vote for the bill, 75 of 220 House Republicans voting for the bill would also provide a veto-proof majority in the House.
Sending the bill to the president with veto-proof passage in both houses may allow Trump to wash his hands of responsibility for the sanctions against Russia.