Senators tee off against 'chaos monster' Lindsey Graham

Sen. Lindsey Graham's (R-SC) colleagues are growing frustrated with his inconsistent positions.

The South Carolina Republican voted repeatedly against $60 billion in aid to Ukraine, whose president Volodymyr Zelensky he visited last May in Kyiv, and the longtime hawk announced on the Senate floor that he would not attend the annual Munich Security Conference as he usually does, reported the Washington Post.

"It marked a departure for the senator who was harshly critical of Donald Trump’s 'America First' foreign policy when he ran against him for president in 2015, in part on a message of launching a U.S. invasion of Syria," the newspaper reported. "And even as he cozied up to Trump once he became president on numerous other issues, the Air Force veteran continued to criticize Trump on foreign policy, including for wanting to withdraw from Afghanistan and Syria."

Graham angered colleagues who worked closely with him on the bipartisan agreement that included GOP-backed border provisions that were tied to foreign aid to Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel -- only to watch him turn against the bill that was publicly opposed by former president Donald Trump.

READ MORE: House Republicans now want border security they killed back in Ukraine bill

"Some negotiators believe Graham’s tone changed after a mid-January visit with Trump at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida, according to people familiar with the negotiations who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter candidly," the Post reported. "Shortly after the visit, Trump began posting more harshly against the bill, and Republican senators began defecting from the deal before it was even announced. Graham began raising more pointed concerns about whether the parole provisions of the deal were strong enough."

However, Graham and his staff kept working with senators on the bill, pushing to restrict the use of parole at land ports of entry, but he infuriated Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), a key negotiator whom he worked closely alongside on the deal.

"Graham’s shifting demands prompted her to privately refer to him as a 'chaos monster' at times, according to two people who heard her use the term," the Post reported.