US Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, has died suddenly, with President Donald Trump revealing that he had spoken with him by telephone just hours before his death. In an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press, Trump described the late senator as someone who was “like family” to him, according to NBC News.
According to Trump, Graham had called him earlier that evening to discuss the Save America Act, a bill that currently lacks sufficient support in the Senate. “He actually told me he was tired, but that he wanted the Bill to Save America to pass. I told him: we will sort this out, Lindsey. We will see each other soon,” Trump recounted, adding that he had planned to see Graham as early as Sunday.
In an interview with CNN, Trump stated that Graham had mentioned his recent trip to Ukraine, from which he had just returned. The senator had met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv the day before his death. Within the Republican Party, he was a prominent advocate for a firm foreign policy, supporting Ukraine and taking a tough line against Iran.
The relationship between the two men was not always close. During the 2016 campaign, Graham was one of Trump’s loudest critics, and had even briefly considered running for the Republican nomination, describing Trump’s campaign at the time as rooted in xenophobia, racial intolerance, and religious intolerance. The rift deepened following the attack on the Capitol on 6 January 2021, although Graham later voted to acquit Trump in the impeachment trial and supported him in the 2024 election.
In recent years, he had become one of Trump’s closest allies and a regular partner in golf. Trump had supported Graham’s re-election campaign, which was due to take place in the autumn, describing the senator’s death as “a sudden end”.
