Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) called the Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) a liar on Sunday.
Graham told CNN “State of the Union” host Candy Crowley that Reid "made up" unsubstantiated accusations he lobbed on the Senate floor last week, that presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney had not paid taxes for the last 10 years.
"What [Reid] did on the floor was so out of bounds, I think he's lying about his statement, knowing something about Romney," Graham said.
"I just can't let that pass, I just cannot believe that the Majority Leader of the United States Senate would take the floor twice, make accusations that are absolutely unfounded in my view, and quite frankly making things up to divert the campaign away from the real issues," he emphasized.
Reid last week claimed Romney had not pay federal taxes for ten years. The Nevada senator said he was informed by a Bain investor who called his office.
Later in the show, President Obama's top political strategist Robert Gibbs, was asked if the president's campaign team had encouraged Reid to make the accusations.
Gibbs dodged Crowley's repeated attempts to ask if the Obama campaign would ask Reid to stop making the accusations.
"I think it's important that we know the financial backgrounds of candidates. We're going to have a pretty big debate over tax reform in the next few months and we have to know what's in people's tax returns and what they're getting the benefit for," Gibbs said.
Despite Crowley's follow-ups, Gibbs refused to say that Chicago, where the Obama campaign is based, would tell Reid to stop making the accusations.
"I don't think anybody controls Harry Reid," he said.
