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                    "A explosive documentary put out by the Young Turks and Swamp Watch Studios alleges that the late senator Lindsey Graham paid off several male escorts for sex, one of whom was 17 at the time.\n\u201cMy name is Kelvin, and I had sex with Lindsey Graham when I was 17,\u201d one of the escorts says in the clip from The CLOSETocracy, shared by The Young Turks on Thursday.\nThe film features \u201cfirsthand accounts from three men who allege paid sexual encounters with the late Sen. Lindsey Graham\u201d and \u201cexamines the contrast between his alleged private conduct and his longstanding political opposition to LGBTQ+ rights,\u201d according to a press release put out by The Young Turks.\n\u201cThese are serious claims that deserve public scrutiny,\u201d Young Turks founder Cenk Uygur said in the statement. TYT believes in giving audiences access to important stories and the opportunity to examine the reporting for themselves. We\u2019re making this documentary available so viewers can hear these accounts firsthand.\u201d\nKelvin said he turned to escort work partly because his family was so poor that he couldn\u2019t even afford clothes.\nHe said that Graham contacted him through an escort site, claiming Kelvin had come \u201crecommended.\u201d\n\u201cHe wanted to be a little submissive to me and wanted me to be really direct and firm with him and explore kinky side to him that he was interested in exploring, just role play. The whole conversation was friendly, kind,\u201d Kelvin said.\nGraham allegedly invited Kelvin, then just 17, to John McCain\u2019s ranch in Sedona, Arizona, in July 2001, where the South Carolina senator was staying as a guest.\nKelvin claimed he was given \u201cspecific instructions\u201d to enter the home via a specific entrance and should \u201cjust walk in.\u201d\nKelvin said he entered an odd space which he described as \u201cvery scary.\u201d\n\u201cAs I entered the house I could tell this part of the house was under construction. So there was open beams, there\u2019s black tarp, black sheeting on the left, there\u2019s a coat hanger that was like, it was like a couple of nails on the right hand side. He instructed me to remove my jacket.\n\u201cIt looked nothing like a house under construction it loooked staged like that on purpose.\n\u201cIt looked as though it was made or set up to be a film set, specifically for what looked like very extreme porn. Something that would be dark porn. Like something that was just really scary.\u201d\nKelvin claimed he immediately started giving Graham oral sex. \u201cThat was kind of my way of becoming comfortable with the situation,\u201d Kelvin said,\u00a0 before the Senator \u201cslowed things down.\u201d\n\u201cHe let it happen for about 15, 20 seconds\u201d Kelvin claimed. As they separated, Graham \u201cgot a good look at me.\u201d\n\u201cThat was when he was a bit startled, almost terrified,\u201d Kelvin said.\nGraham then accused Kelvin of being under 18, which the escort repeatedly denied.\nGraham was \u201cvery accusatory,\u201d Kelvin claimed before he said \u201clet\u2019s continue this\u201d and pointed him to another room. \u201cI want you to start undressing yourself, there\u2019s a mattress on the floor.\u201d\nKelvin said Graham insisted the younger man man stay standing and repeat his age and name.\n\u201cI just need you to tell me how old you are,\u201d Graham allegedly told him.\nKelvin asked, \u201cwhat for\u201d and said he thought Graham said \u201cfor the camera\u201d before denying he was recording at all.\n\u201cBeing a powerless 17-year-old I was like, what is going on here, Are you recording? But I couldn\u2019t make out a camera I couldn\u2019t see anything. So I didn\u2019t know what he was doing\u2026 I did see a blinking red light so it gave me a satisfaction that this is a camera, I am being recorded.\u201d\nThe escort claims the senator told him to stop looking in the direction of the light, and became \u201cmore dominant, more aggressive.\u201d\nThe young escort claims as the encounter continued he told Graham that \u201cGod thinks it\u2019s OK for you to be gay,\u201d which prompted frustration from Graham.\n\u201cAnd then it got to be too much for him so he just shook it off,\u201d he said.\nA second man who identified himself as Cory claimed he was picked up by a black SUV and driven to the Washington Plaza Hotel for an overnight with a client that had a \u201cbig, grandiose Southern accent.\u201d\nThe man said he \u201creally liked to be degraded, the more degrading the better,\u201d according to Cory, who noted, \u201cbefore I could even say, \u2018Let\u2019s do this,\u2019 he\u2019s already touching on me.\u201d\nA month or two later, Cory says in the documentary that he has the TV on and realizes, \u201cIt\u2019s the guy from the hotel. It [says] \u2018Lindsey Graham\u2019 on the bottom.\u201d\n\u201cI am Jesse, and I had sex with Lindsey Graham,\u201d a third man says in the 33-minute documentary.\nHe described a poor upbringing but said, \u201cOnce we got cable, I knew who Senator Graham was, because his election ads were on TV consistently.\u201d\nA friend suggested Jesse work as an escort to make cash, and when he moved to Washington, D.C., said he met Graham at the Beacon Hotel.\nGraham did not give his real name, Jesse claimed.\nGraham, who was first elected to the Senate in 2002, died on July 11. His cause of death was listed as aortic dissection due to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease.\nHis sister, Darline Graham, was appointed to take his place. President Donald Trump campaigned for her on Wednesday night ahead of a midterm battle with Democratic rival Dr. Annie Andrews, a pediatrician.\nAt one point in the documentary, the filmmakers approach Darline Graham and ask her about the allegations that her brother paid gay escorts for sex.\n\u201cI\u2019m not even gonna entertain that question,\u201d she says in the film.\nA spokeswoman for the Grahams did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Mediaite.\nAt the end of the film, Jesse delivers a final blow: \u201cYour gas prices are high because of policies that people like Sen. Graham were supporting while they were paying people like me for sex. Does that make you mad? Does that make America mad?\u201d\nThis is a developing story and has been updated.\nWatch the film above via The Young Turks/YouTube.\nNew: The Mediaite One-Sheet \"Newsletter of Newsletters\"Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!"
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