- Joined
- Oct 6, 2004
- Posts
- 4,185
Thought ol' Mitch woulda been the first to go.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lindsey-graham-dead-dies_n_6a533872e4b09843d52b77af
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lindsey-graham-dead-dies_n_6a533872e4b09843d52b77af
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of President Donald Trump’s closest allies in Congress who traveled the globe to advocate for a more aggressive U.S. foreign policy, died Saturday evening after a “brief and sudden illness,” his office said in a statement posted on social media. He was 71.
His office did not provide did not provide any additional details about the South Carolina Republican and said his family “appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period.”
U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina questions U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine during a Senate Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Defense hearing to examine the 2027 budget for the Department of Defense on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on May 12, 2026. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP via Getty Images)
JIM WATSON via Getty Images
“Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known, is dead!” Trump posted on social media early Sunday morning. “He was always working, and was a true American Patriot. Lindsey will be greatly missed!!! DETAILS AND ARRANGEMENTS TO FOLLOW. So sad!”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said “my heart is heavy this morning to learn the passing of my friend and colleague, Senator Lindsey Graham.”
“Lindsey’s long and dedicated service in the Air Force and in Congress carried him to far-flung regions of the world,” Thune said. “He was a strong advocate for the United States and a strong ally to freedom-loving countries across the globe. He believed in the might of America to achieve good in the world and dedicated his life to advancing that cause.”
Graham was close with Trump
First elected to the U.S. Senate in 2002 after serving in the House, the former Air Force lawyer long promoted a policy of robust U.S. military interventionism and strong national defense that in later years, would put him at odds with the growing isolationist wing of the Republican Party.
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But in recent years, Graham also became well known for his close ties with Trump, whom he briefly ran against for the party’s presidential nomination in 2016.
Graham and Trump’s relationship would begin on a rough note, with the senator calling the then-businessman “unfit for office.” Graham also used a profanity to describe Trump after he made disparaging comments about former Sen. John McCain, Graham’s best friend in the Senate and a Vietnam War veteran. McCain and Graham, along with former Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., were known as the “Three Amigos” and frequently traveled to push their hawkish foreign policy views around the globe.
