Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has passed away after suffering a sudden and brief illness.
According to a statement from his office, the Senator died on Saturday evening. His family has requested privacy during this incredibly difficult time.
First elected to the Senate in 2002, the South Carolina lawmaker was a prominent figure in Washington, particularly regarding foreign policy, and served as a key ally to Donald Trump.
Graham had recently returned from a trip to Kyiv, where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday. He had shown no signs of health concerns prior to the trip.
In a social media tribute, U.S. President Donald Trump described Graham as a “true American Patriot.”
In addition to his legislative roles, Graham served as the Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee.
A dedicated advocate for U.S. assistance to Ukraine, Graham’s most recent visit to the nation involved work on a Russia sanctions bill, which he intended would provide “tools to President Trump to end this war.”
“Putin will not stop in Ukraine,” he remarked to the BBC in 2023.
“To be weak in Ukraine means that you lose in Taiwan,” he warned.
Over his career, Graham had a complex relationship with President Trump. Following the 2021 U.S. Capitol riots, Graham delivered a Senate floor speech noting, “Trump and I, we’ve had a hell of a journey. I hate it to end this way.”
“All I can say is a count me out. Enough is enough.”
However, he later became one of Trump’s most loyal supporters, backing him in the 2024 election.
Speaking to the BBC in 2023, Graham noted, “There is a dark side to Donald Trump… and he was a very good president. But I am sticking with him because I saw what he did,” specifically highlighting Trump’s management of the southern border, the operation against Qasem Soleimani, and the appointment of conservative judges.
His official website noted that Graham “consistently pushed for outcomes in the War on Terror that protect our long-term national security interests.”
He was a vocal opponent of the 2021 U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, calling it a “sad and dangerous event for US national security…Jihadists all over the world are celebrating. America will be seen as weak.”
A staunch defender of Israel, Graham received condolences from Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu, who stated, “Lindsey understood that the security of Israel and America are inseparable.”
Netanyahu added that Israel had lost “one of its greatest friends.”
