'I'm entitled to life, too!' Lindsey Graham defends strange Disney trip amid DHS chaos

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Thursday defended his strange trip to Disney World amid the ongoing partial government shutdown.

Over the weekend, photos of Graham visiting Disney appeared on social media. Graham, who is unmarried and has no children, told TMZ on Tuesday that the trip was planned as part of his efforts to work with special envoy Steve Witkoff to normalize relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel. But questions still swirled about why he chose to blow off steam at Disney World.

On Thursday, reporter Carolina Lumetta with WORLD asked Graham about his trip. She posted his response on X.

"Because I like Disney," Graham told Lumetta. "It's a great place to go. It's a great place to share [with] friends. But I didn't do anything wrong, and I didn't shut the government down. I don't know where everybody else went on the break, but I've been working my butt off here. But, I'm entitled to life, too, and at the end of the day, that's all you got to say.”

Graham's comment came at a time when several lawmakers are facing criticism for traveling away from Washington, D.C. during the partial shutdown. The Department of Homeland Security has been partially shut down for more than 40 days as lawmakers negotiate changes to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.