Hillary Clinton on Lindsey Graham Targeting Her: 'Absolute Disgrace'

Former secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton figured prominently in Wednesday's Senate hearing featuring Attorney General William Barr and his handling of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference in the 2016 election. Not only was Clinton's candidacy a point of reference -- since she was the subject of a Russian campaign to derail her candidacy or sully her presidency -- but her actions as the presidential nominee and as secretary of State, where she served from 2009 to 2013, were brought up repeatedly.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham spent much of his opening statement haranguing FBI agents sympathetic to Clinton before turning on Clinton and her staff.

"I told you what the Trump people did, let me tell you a little bit about what the Clinton people did," the South Carolina Republican said. "There was a protective order for [Clinton's email] server issued by the House and there was a request from the State Department to preserve all the information on the server. Paul Cambetta after having the protective order used a software program called bleach bit to wipe this email server clean. ... What happened to him? Nothing. Eighteen devices possessed by Secretary Clinton she used to do business as secretary. How many of them were turned over to the FBI? None!"

Graham's pivot from Barr's actions on Mueller's report to years-old innuendo about Clinton was almost comical. Later, Sen. Kamala Harris needled Barr about whether President Trump has pressured him to open an investigation on anyone; Barr declined to answer.

Clinton, appearing on Rachel Maddow's MSNBC show Wednesday night, weighed in on the GOP turning its focus, once again, to her.

"That's a disgrace," Clinton said, specifically of Graham's threats of another Clinton-related investigation. "It's an absolute disgrace. They know better, but this is part of their whole technique to divert attention from what the real story is. The real story is the Russians interfered in our elections and Trump committed obstruction of justice. That's what they don't want the American people thinking about. So when in doubt, say something wild about me. Thankfully, there's no there and there never has been.

"I've been investigated repeatedly by the other side. Much to their dismay, but to my satisfaction, it's been for naught. I testified for 11 hours in the Benghazi hearings after seven committees said there was nothing there. This is a diversionary attack. ... It's one of their tools to fire up their hard-core base. When in doubt, go after me."

In her hour-long interview with Maddow, Clinton also discussed how the Democrats should proceed on impeachment of Trump, 2020 presidential candidates, and preventing the Russians -- or Chinese -- from manipulating future elections. Watch more of the interview below.