A single sentence from 2022 grand jury testimony has reignited a conversation that sportswriter Rick Reilly has been documenting since 2019. Sen. Lindsey Graham sat before Georgia prosecutors in 2022, answering questions about election interference. Then the questioning veered somewhere unexpected — onto the golf course. Asked whether President Donald Trump cheats at golf, Graham delivered a response now etched into the public record.

“Some people say you may outdrive him, but you’re not going to outdrive his caddy,” Graham said under oath. “It is what it is.”

The New York Times obtained the transcripts and published them on January 13, 2026. Within hours, the golf world had its say. HuffPost again amplified this news on January 16, 2026.

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Rick Reilly fires back at his critics

Reilly, who wrote the 2019 book Commander in Cheat and has golfed with Trump personally, wasted no time. He took to X with a message aimed squarely at those who had dismissed his years of reporting.

“To all the MAGAs who said I lied in my book about Trump cheating like a three-card money dealer on the golf course,” Reilly wrote. “Sen. Lindsey Graham just said it under oath. ‘You may outdrive him, but you can’t outdrive his caddy.’ Cheat at golf — Cheat at life.”

Graham’s testimony aligns with allegations Reilly has detailed for years. In a 2024 interview, Reilly described Trump’s method: “He always gets a turbo-charged golf cart that goes three times as fast as yours, so he’s always 200 yards ahead, and that gives him time to cheat.”

The tactics, according to Reilly, include repositioning his own ball into better lies and moving opponents’ balls into bunkers before they arrive. One anecdote stands out. During a $50-a-hole match in Los Angeles, Trump hit his ball into a pond. His playing partners saw the splash. By the time they reached the spot, the ball sat in the middle of the fairway. Trump’s explanation? “It must’ve been the tide.”

Reilly told the Associated Press in 2019 that such behavior was widely recognized among golfers. “In golf, he’s definitely not exonerated,” Reilly said.

Prior reporting noted that Reilly has long described Trump’s golf approach with the phrase “He lies. He scams. He cons” — a characterization that predates his response to Graham’s testimony.

Donald Trump’s Turnberry video resurfaces amid testimony fallout

Graham’s sworn words arrived months after a viral video from Trump’s Turnberry course in Scotland fueled similar speculation. The 2025 footage appeared to show a caddy dropping a ball onto the green — a move observers interpreted as consistent with the patterns Reilly had documented. Reilly responded at the time, noting that caddies cannot legally drop balls for players, particularly on greens during scored rounds.

The video added visual texture to allegations that had previously existed only in anecdotes and written accounts.

White House Communications Director Steven Cheung issued a statement following Reilly’s posts. The response attacked Reilly personally, accusing him of “Trump Derangement Syndrome” and mocking his golf game. Cheung did not address the substance of Graham’s testimony.

Trump himself has not publicly commented on Graham’s remarks as of January 17, 2026. No statement, social media post, or denial has appeared addressing the specific testimony.

The testimony does not allege rule violations in any formal tournament setting. Graham framed his comment neutrally during the sworn interview, offering neither explicit confirmation nor denial. But for Reilly — who has spent years chronicling these allegations — the words landed like vindication spoken into the court record.

What a grand jury proceeding about election interference revealed about a president’s golf habits now sits in public view. The interpretation belongs to those who read it.