Lindsey Graham, US senator and Trump ally, dies at 71

Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, who was once an outspoken critic of Donald Trump and later became one of the president’s staunchest allies, has died of heart disease caused by hardening of the arteries.

The 71-year-old South Carolina Republican died Saturday, his office announced.

In an interview with Reuters, Trump said he spoke to Graham “minutes” before he fell ill and ruled out any foul play.

“There are such rumors. But no, I believe he had a very short-term illness. He had a heart attack,” Trump said.

“He was a friend of mine, a great friend, and to lose him is devastating.”

The preliminary finding from the District of Columbia medical examiner was that the cause of death was “aortic dissection,” Graham’s office said in an email.

Aortic dissection is a tear in the main artery that carries blood from the heart. The findings showed that this was due to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

Trump ordered U.S. flags lowered in Graham’s honor.

The race to replace Graham in reliably Republican South Carolina will not impact the broader fight between Republicans and Democrats for control of the Senate in the November midterm elections.

But his death leaves Trump without a credible Senate vote as the president tries to push his agenda in Congress.

The continued absence of another Republican lawmaker, Sen. Mitch McConnell, effectively narrows the party’s Senate majority to a minimum of 51 votes until a replacement is sworn in.

Senate Republicans were already one vote behind because of the absence of McConnell, who remains hospitalized after suffering what he described as mild pneumonia as well as injuries from a fall at his home.

Graham died less than two days before the Senate was scheduled to return Monday after a July 4 recess for a compressed work period during which Republicans hope to advance key legislation on defense and national security and confirm Trump nominees, including Todd Blanche, the president’s former lawyer, for U.S. attorney general.

Under South Carolina law, the state’s Republican Gov. Henry McMaster can immediately appoint an interim person to fill the seat for the remainder of Graham’s term, which ends in early January.

Republicans hoping to replace Graham for the next six-year Senate term will compete in special party primaries on Aug. 11, with a runoff on Aug. 25 if no candidate wins a majority under state law.

The winner will face Democrat Annie Andrews in the November general election.

Graham, a defense hawk, was a major supporter of Israel and Ukraine and an opponent of Iran.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy stated that he was “deeply saddened” by this news and described Graham as “a true defender of freedom and the values ​​that make our world safer.”

On Friday, Graham met with Zelenskiy in Kiev, and the Ukrainian leader said the two discussed Ukraine’s air defense needs and a proposed sanctions bill against Russia.

U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican and former chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Graham’s death could strengthen momentum to pass a bill that would increase U.S. sanctions on Russia. This bill was an initiative supported by Graham and received the support of the White House last week.

“The best way to honor Lindsey is to pass the bill,” McCaul told Reuters.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in his statement that Israel has lost one of its biggest supporters.

“I lost a dear friend,” Netanyahu said.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, when Graham was among many Republicans who lost the nomination to Trump, he posted on social media: “If we nominate Trump, we’re screwed… and we deserve it.” Graham told CNN in 2015 that Trump was a “racial hater, a xenophobe, a religious bigot.”

Graham, who later became a staunch supporter and frequent golf partner, still publicly opposes Trump’s decision to pardon nearly 1,500 of his supporters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, when he returned to office last year, saying it could lead to more violence.

“They didn’t always agree, but … they understood how to make friends,” Republican Sen. Tim Scott said.

Graham rose to prominence in Washington in the late 1990s when he was named manager of the House impeachment trial against President Bill Clinton. The House of Representatives impeached Clinton, but the Senate acquitted her and she remained in office.

Graham passionately defended Brett Kavanaugh, who was nominated to the US Supreme Court by Trump in 2018, against allegations of sexual assault against the candidate. Kavanaugh’s decision was narrowly approved by the high court. In an interview with CNN on Sunday, Trump called it the “finest moment” of Graham’s Senate career.

Graham, a former Air Force attorney and member of the South Carolina Air National Guard, was elected to the Senate in 2002, taking over the seat that segregationist Strom Thurmond had held for nearly half a century. Before that, he was elected to the House of Representatives in 1994.

He never married and lived in South Carolina.