Former President Donald Trump spoke out against Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) in a new interview on Tuesday night, calling him a “RINO” as he slammed him for opposing pardons for January 6 rioters.

Graham said earlier this week that pardoning Capitol rioters would be “inappropriate,” a comment that did not sit well with Trump, and Newsmax host Rob Schmitt brought this up while interviewing the former president last night.

“You talked about the potential, if it’s appropriate, of pardoning some of the January 6ers,” Schmitt said. “Lindsey Graham said a couple days later he thinks that’s inappropriate. What do you think?”

Trump held nothing back with his response.

“Well, Lindsey Graham’s wrong,” Trump fired back. “I mean, Lindsey’s a nice guy, but he’s a RINO. Lindsey’s wrong.”

“Lindsey Graham doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about if he says that,” he added.

TRUMP: 'RINO' Lindsey Graham "doesn't know what the hell he's talking about" when the Senator says it would be inappropriate for Trump to potentially pardon Jan 6 defendants. @SchmittNYC pic.twitter.com/wrJeHTOWaF

— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) February 2, 2022

This came after Trump hinted during a rally this past Saturday that he may pardon defendants being held for their roles in the Capitol riot if he wins back the White House in 2024, should he decide to run.

“If I run, and if I win, we will treat those people from Jan. 6 fairly,” Trump said, according to The New York Post. “And if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons. Because they are being treated so unfairly.”

The next day, Graham told CBS News that he is against issuing pardons to Capitol rioters.

“No, I don’t want to send any signal that it was OK to defile the Capitol,” he said when asked about Trump’s comments. “There are other groups with causes that may want to go down to the violent path [if] these people get pardoned.”

However, when asked if Trump’s remarks were “dangerous,” Graham seemed hesitant to go that far.

“Yeah, well, I think it’s inappropriate,” he responded. “I — I don’t want to reinforce that defiling the Capitol was OK. I don’t want to do anything that would make this more likely in the future.”

“I don’t want to do anything, from raising bail to pardoning people who take the law into their own hands, because it will make more violence more likely … I hope they go to jail and get the book thrown at them because they deserve it,” Graham continued.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) also opposed Trump potentially issuing pardons of this kind.

“I would not be in favor of shortening any of the sentences for any of the people who pleaded guilty to crimes,” McConnell said on Tuesday, according to The Hill. 

“The election of 2020 was decided December 14 of 2020 when the Electoral College certified the winner of the election,” he added. “What we saw here, on January the 6th, was an effort to prevent the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to another, which has never happened before in our country.”

Trump has yet to confirm whether or not he’ll run for president again in 2024, saying that he will likely make an announcement about this after the midterm elections later this year. Graham admitted in May of last year that the Republican Party cannot “move forward” or “grow” without Trump being its leader.

“The most popular Republican in America — it’s not Lindsey Graham, it’s not [Rep.] Liz Cheney, it’s Donald Trump,” Graham said. “People on our side of the aisle believe the Trump policies worked. They’re disappointed that he lost, and to try to erase Donald Trump from the Republican Party is insane, and the people who try to erase him are going to wind up getting erased.”

“It’s impossible for this party to move forward without President Trump being its leader, because the people who are conservative have chosen him as their leader,” he continued. “And you know why they chose him? Because he delivered. He was the most consequential president for national security since Ronald Reagan. He secured the border. He cut our taxes, brought a new attitude of being an American, and the people have chosen him, not the pundits.”

Graham has yet to respond to Trump’s latest comments referring to him as a “RINO.”