Trump should 'take gloves off' on terror in 'our own backyard:' Sen. Graham

— -- Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., called out President Donald Trump over his response to domestic terror on Tuesday in the wake of a deadly a truck-ramming attack in New York City.

"The Trump administration [has] taken the gloves off when it comes to the war on terror overseas," Graham told reporters on Capitol Hill Tuesday evening. "We have to look in our own backyard and see if we have the intelligence network and capability to prevent these attacks.

"And at the end of the day, if somebody’s committed to dying and take some people with them, it’s hard to stop," he said, but lawmakers must do "everything we can to prevent these things, within our values and within our constitutional framework."

Graham’s remarks came just hours after a man killed eight people, and injured more than a dozen others, on a Manhattan bike path Tuesday afternoon.

The suspect, Sayfullo Saipov, 29, of Tampa, Florida, was taken into custody after the attack. He was said to have shouted "Allahu Akbar," or "God is Great" in Arabic, at the scene.

Trump called the incident "a terrorist attack" in a tweet and referred to the assailant as a "sick and deranged person."

Trump later posted another tweet to offer his "thoughts, condolences and prayers to the victims and families" affected by the attack.

"We must not allow ISIS to return, or enter, our country after defeating them in the Middle East and elsewhere. Enough," he said.

"I have just ordered Homeland Security to step up our already Extreme Vetting Program. Being politically correct is fine, but not for this," he said in a subsequent tweet.

Graham told Fox News that he spoke with Trump after making the remarks on Capitol Hill.