Donald Trump reads Lindsey Graham's cell phone number to South Carolina crowd after he called the billionaire a 'jackass'
- Trump and Graham, two GOP presidential candidates, are waging a tit-for-tat war of words this week
- Graham slammed Trump for claiming on Saturday that his fellow US senator John McCain was 'not a war hero'
- Trump called him an 'idiot' on Tuesady after Graham advised him on national television to 'stop being a jackass'
- Trump leads the Republican presidential field with 24 per cent while Graham is idling near zero
Billionaire Donald Trump upped the ante on Tuesday in his ongoing feud with Lindsey Graham, reading the senator's private cell phone number to a crowd in his home state of South Carolina – and urging them to call it to complain directly to him.
The two presidential candidates have been driving media coverage with a tit-for-tat series of insults. On Tuesday, Trump called Graham an 'idiot.'
Hours earlier, Graham told the CBS 'This Morning' audience that Trump should 'stay in the race' if he wants to, but 'just stop being a jackass.'
Scroll down for video
Donald Trump took his war of words with South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham to a new level on Tuesday, reading his personal cell phone number aloud during a speech in the senator's home state and urging people to call him
Republican presidential candidate Sen. Lindsey Graham saw his cell phone ring off the hook on Tuesday after Trump ave out the number, and a half-hour later the voicemail mailbox was full
Trump gave out the phone number duing a televised speech, and urged South Carolinians gathered at the Sun City retirement communtiy near Myrtle Beach to call their senior senator.
'Give it a shot,' Trump said, reading off the number, which began with Washington, D.C.'s 202 area code.
He also questioned Graham's intelligence, saying that 'he doesn’t seem like a very bright guy.'
'I think Rick Perry is probably smarter than Lindsey Graham. But what do I know? He’s got the glasses.'
Trump was mocking Perry’s new look – he began wearing eyeglasses last year – and playing on a stereotpye Perry reinfocred in a 2011 debate when he ouldn't recall which three federal agencies he had said he would shut down as president.
Graham, Trump jabbed, 'actually seems to me not as bright, obviously, as Rick Perry. I think Rick Perry probably is smarter than Lindsey Graham.'
'What a stiff!' he boomed. 'What a stiff, Lindsey Graham. By the way he has registered zero in the polls. A total lightweight. In the private sector, he couldn’t get a job.'
Trump produced a piece of paper on which he said Graham's cell phone number was written, after asking aloud: 'Didn't this guy call me four years ago? Yes, he called me three or four years ago, Lindsey Graham, I didn’t even know who he was.'
A podium and microphone awaited Donald Trump as a capacity crowd gathered in Bluffton, South Carolina
He said Graham had asked him for a positive reference to a producer for the 'Fox and Friends' morning show on the Fox News Channel, and also hit him up for a campaign donation.
Graham started the war of words over the weekend, slamming Trump for claiming on Saturday that his fellow US senator John McCain was 'not a war hero.'
Trump, the tycoon-turned-entertainer-turned-politician, leads the Republican presidential field, according to an ABC NEws/Washington Post poll released Monday.
Graham's poll numbers are hovering between 0 and 2 per cent.
'He's zero in the polls!' Trump shouted on Tuesday, yet 'he's on television all the time!'
Before Graham's voicemail mailbox filled up, a Politico reporter called the number Trump read aloud and talked with the senator.
'I wonder what caused that,' Graham said drily.
'When it comes to the Donald, nothing surprises me anymore,' he said. 'It’s just too bad, really.'
'NOT A WAR HERO'? Trump made Graham angry on Saturday by picking on his colleague, Arizona Sen. John McCain, and questioning his heroism as a 5-year prisoner of war and torture victim in Vietnam
Graham campaign manager Christian Ferry said in a statement that time and attention lavished on the real estate mogul could be better spent.
'Trump continues to show hourly that he is ill-prepared to be commander in chief,' the statement read.
'The two people most excited about Donald Trump's candidacy is [sic] Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton,' said Ferry.
'Because of Trump's bombastic and ridiculous campaign, we aren't talking about Obama's horrible deal with Iran or HIllary Clinton's plans to continue Obama's failed national security agenda.'
Trump's Tuesday event was rescheduled after a postponement due to the June 17 mass-shooting in nearby Charleston.
- Anchor Tomi Lahren goes on passionate rant against Obama
- Confederate flag supporters trolled by tuba on rally path
- Boyfriend gives his 'cheating' girlfriend birthday surprise
- Service held for tech entrepreneur who leapt off NYC roof
- Groovy little baby wakes up from nap dancing to Uptown Funk
- Tomi Lahren explains her stance after viral rant on Obama
- The lavish lifestyle of drug lord El Chapo's children
- Lake Jackson family reflects on delivering baby boy in car
- Shocking moment surfer fights off shark on live TV
- Rosie the clever dog uses plastic tub as boat to get ball
- Woman smashes car window to rescue toddler stuck inside
- Service held for Faigy Mayer who leapt off NYC roof
- EXCLUSIVE: ‘She didn’t want to be a mom with 20 kids.’...
- Meet the 25-year-old frequent flyer who has outsmarted the...
- Conservative anchor, 22, becomes viral star with passionate...
- Can you spot the snow leopard? Amazing photographs show the...
- 'People expect me to be doing OK' : Jessica Lynch tells how...
- The Rich Kids of the Cartel: Mexico drugs lord El Chapo's...
- Former NFL player with a $30M contract 'refusing to pay...
- Hackers take control of a Jeep Cherokee and crash it into a...
- EXCLUSIVE: How model Gigi Hadid's father called...
- I'm sorry but Donald Trump is winning BECAUSE he never says...
- 50 Cent admits he's counterfeit: Rapper ditches fancy suit...
- Target sues hero man who fended off mentally knife attacker...