Lindsey Graham says he hopes all Gitmo detainees 'die in jail' at Ketanji Brown Jackson hearing

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) spoke passionately during Tuesday's Senate confirmation hearing and left the room during discussions about President Joe Biden's Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson's "judicial philosophy."

Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), the current Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was discussing the disposition of Guantanamo detainees, when Durbin quoted statistics that since 9/11, nearly 1,000 people have been convicted under terrorism charges, and that since the Obama era, the recidivism rate of Guantanamo detainees once released is "5 percent."

Graham took umbrage with the figure, interjecting: "Chairman, according to the Department of National Intelligence, says 31 percent. Somebody's wrong here."

"If we close Gitmo and move them to Colorado do you support indefinite detention... for these detainees? The answer is no," he continued. Durbin said that the 31 percent figure goes back to 2009. "The system failed miserably and advocates to change this system like [this nominee] was advocating would destroy our ability to protect this country," he said.

"We're at war; we're not fighting crime!" Graham continued.

"This is not some passage of time event. As long as they're dangerous, I hope they all die in jail if they're going to go back to kill Americans. It won't bother me one bit if 39 of them die in prison. That's a better outcome than letting them go and if it cost $500 million to keep them in jail, keep them in jail because they'll go back to the fight. Look at the freaking Afghan government made up of former detainees at Gitmo. This whole thing by the left about this war ain't working."

Graham would then stand up and leave the Senate hearing room.