While speaking with her panel about Rep. Steve King’s latest controversial comments on Tuesday, MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle wondered if Donald Trump is blackmailing Sen. Lindsey Graham.

“Before Don got elected, Lindsey Graham called Donald Trump a racist, xenophobic bigot. Those are Lindsey Graham’s words,” former Republican Congressman David Jolly said. “I doubt Lindsey Graham could tell you Donald Trump has had a change of heart in the last 24 months, I bet the change of heart has been with Lindsey Graham, not the president.”

“Or it could be that Donald Trump or somebody knows something pretty extreme about Lindsey Graham,” Ruhle chimed in. “We’re gonna have to leave it there.”

Graham has become a staunch ally in the Senate to Trump since he has been in office, with the most notable being his strong defense of then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

But he wasn’t always such a staunch ally. Back in June of 2016, Graham tweeted, “If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed…….and we will deserve it.”

If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed…….and we will deserve it.

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) May 3, 2016

In February of 2016, Graham tweeted, “Donald Trump is not a conservative Republican. He’s an opportunist. He’s not fit to be President of the United States.”

Donald Trump is not a conservative Republican. He's an opportunist. He's not fit to be President of the United States.

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) February 17, 2016

Jon Cooper, chairman of the Democratic Coalition, claimed on Sunday that an unnamed Republican thinks Graham is “being blackmailed” by Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin over something related to a “serious sexual kink.” He also said Graham’s “sexual orientation” is “an open secret.”

A Republican just told me that he doubts @LindseyGrahamSC is kowtowing to Trump (and indirectly Putin) because he’s being blackmailed over his sexual orientation (an open secret) or even financial corruption. Rather, he thinks it probably involves some pretty serious sexual kink.

— Jon Cooper (@joncoopertweets) January 13, 2019

By the way, as an openly gay man myself, I couldn’t care less about Lindsey Graham's sex life (gay, straight or otherwise). However, Graham is the Senate Judiciary Chair and there’s a strong likelihood that he's being blackmailed by the Russians. If so, that needs to be revealed.

— Jon Cooper (@joncoopertweets) January 14, 2019

WATCH:

@SRuhle @MSNBC @esglaude @DavidJollyFL JeremyBashNotOnTwitter
Think more Anchors could say This????????#Ruhle pic.twitter.com/2DS3sHeFRw

— A. J. Charles (@AJECHARLES) January 15, 2019