LINDSEY GRAHAM 1955 - 2026 A Tribute

Senator Lindsey Graham has died at age 71. He has been a good friend to me for my entire political career . I cannot say enough good things about him as a human being and as a United States Senator. Here is our look at his career. 

This is a giant loss for the nation, 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Good morning. This is Randall Wallace, and I have some really, really sad news to share with you. I'm sure you probably already heard that Senator Lindsey Graham at 71 passed away in the middle of the night last night. And was called about four o'clock in the morning. This is this is sad news. Lindsey Graham was a giant, and uh it is kind of hard right now to even wrap your head around him not being our U.S. Senator. I was uh so shaken this morning when I got up and found this out about 4 a.m. I somebody let me know that I wrote this statement down myself and uh and it's what's on my pages and all, but I thought I would read it to you. South Carolina has lost its strongest voice of a generation tonight. I'm saddened beyond words. When the world lined up against me in 2003, Lindsey Graham stood up for me when almost no one else would. He never wavered. He was a loyal friend to me from the time I was a college student working on my first campaigns to a brand new city councilman in a city across the state from where he served, to a struggling councilman with a 67% disapproval rating, and then back again. Lindsey Graham was in my corner no matter what, at the highest moments and at the lowest one of my entire life. I have never forgotten it. He was our state's most effective champion, and he remained as loyal and down-to-earth as anyone I've ever known. I cannot say enough good things about him as both a United States Senator and as a human being. In the 21st century, our country has had two giant political figures in the United States Senate. And to lose one of them this evening and have another one's health, a mystery, is hard to comprehend. Prayers go out to Graham's family and his extraordinary staff today. This is terribly sad news. That's Randall Wallace Me, your host of the show, and that's the statement that I wrote this morning when I found out about four o'clock. Somebody call me up.

SPEAKER_08 2:59

This is a CBS News Special Report. I'm Carissa Lawson at CBS News headquarters in New York. We're coming on the air with breaking news. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has died. Yet Graham became one of Trump's closest allies in office, speaking with him frequently and becoming a regular presence on the golf course alongside the president. He especially advised the president on foreign policy matters such as Iran and Russia, and had just announced an agreement on Friday with the Trump administration to move forward on a package of Russia sanctions. Once again, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham has died after what his office says was a brief and sudden illness on Saturday night. For more on this story, stay with CBS News, CBSnews.com, and CBS News 24-7. Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan. We'll have complete details later this morning. This has been a CBS News Special Report. I'm Carissa Lawson in New York.

SPEAKER_00 4:55

I am confident we're going to be doing some more shows on Lindsey Graham. This just happened. I couldn't sleep, so I decided let's go ahead and start putting something together. And what I thought I would do is share with you some things that I have that we made here on our own show and materials that I've had through the years. And I thought let's let's let you hear him in action and also hear from uh you know our some of the statements that have been made uh that are sent out by our Congressman Russell Fry from President Donald Trump uh on this really shocking uh evening um or morning in South Carolina.

SPEAKER_14 6:02

Well that's happening. I guess I guess they are let's say something first. So when you raise the next papers and you're the natural person, I don't try. I tell you soft man vote was a controversial vote in front of the people that's running the server. Let me take something that really gets on to the thing. The Democrats did it as a way of functionalizing the television. The question should be what happened to the people who killed those 334 police officers? I would love to go down the three version for night and describe where the defender is now. Most of them still have to go to trial, and looking at what they deserve to find a trial as much as far as they permission for weapons. This is the same crowd that stopped the death building of field remote. I can't take the ones that use it multiple cells to not determine. We've tried the death building case just like this. So the square can be certain. Same crowd wants to take 19 gunshot. The same crowd keeps us reforming the system, the system. It's the same crowd that takes Medicare, let's go back to them, remember to change it. It's the same crowd that slates people. Six people should pick a representative call as a lock bread. So Black Britain can take on this room. Let's get out of this thing and let's take Bill Webs. I guarantee your future's at stay. This is a chance to steal right to the conclusion. The first part of the remote resident, your bangs of messages.

SPEAKER_07 10:02

I was just a kid. I remember that day Lindsay came running in. Lindsay's heart is South Carolina.

SPEAKER_00 10:45

The statement from Congressman Russell Fry on the passing of Senator Lindsey Graham. The unexpected loss of Senator Lindsey Graham is difficult to comprehend. South Carolina has lost an extraordinary public servant, and our nation has lost a consequential leader. We grieve alongside his sister, his devoted staff, and all who knew and loved him, and we pray that God grants them comfort and peace. I once asked Lindsay what he considered the greatest accomplishment was. His answer surprised me. He didn't point to Supreme Court confirmations, national security victories, or the many defining moments that made headlines. Instead, he talked about the small victories, the constituent whose problem was solved, the small town that received long overdue help, the quiet successes that never made the evening news. He believed those moments added up to a lifetime of meaningful service. That perspective defined him. Whether fighting for South Carolina's military communities, championing our state, or simply making sure someone back home got the help they needed, Lindsay never lost sight of the people he represented. His legacy will be measured not only by history's biggest moments, but by the countless lives he touched, one person, one family, and one community at a time. South Carolina is better because he served. That was from Congressman Russell Frye.

SPEAKER_09 12:10

He secured hundreds of millions of dollars to expand the Port of Charleston to keep it a leading economic engine, creating jobs in South Carolina. He's given veterans real choice in health care and rebuilt our military to ensure it's the strongest in the world. He's challenged America's enemies and defended our strongest enemies while protecting values of borders. Senator Lindsey Graham, a leader who can get things done.

SPEAKER_01 12:52

Senator Graham's family appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period, it said.

SPEAKER_11 13:47

But what really shifted Graham, indeed, of course, what shifted the Republican Party was that election of Donald Trump in 2016. Graham stood in that 2016 campaign, tried to get the Republican nomination. Donald Trump belittled him, insulted him, humiliated him, even gave out his phone number on air. But rather than setting himself up against Trump, uh, Graham very much swung behind Trump. He was very much an ally of Trump, an enabler of Trump in terms of repackaging Trump's views to try to make them acceptable when Trump crossed the line. There were certain moments when Graham would come out and say, look, maybe this has gone too far, notably after the Capitol attack in January 6, 2021. But by and large, both in Trump's first term and in Trump's second term, Graham became a marker of how Trump took over the Republican Party. Because Graham, only a few months after that, cap a few weeks after that Capitol attack, and having said this was unacceptable, said, well, Donald Trump is the future of the Republican Party.

SPEAKER_01 14:52

Aaron Powell Yes, extraordinary sort of political maneuvers there, really, everything that you've just talked through. What about his character then? What what what would that have been in terms of his decision to get behind Trump even after that sort of public ridicule that you talked about?

SPEAKER_11 15:09

Aaron Powell I mean, for those people who who I think you know were supportive of Graham or or simply gave this a kind reading, they would say it was very flexible. You know, he was very much a political maneuver. They would also point to the fact that he had certain, you know, lines which which weren't shaken. He was, as you mentioned, in Kyiv, because he was a strong supporter of Ukraine's defense against Russian invasion. Uh he was very much hawkish in his foreign policy views, very much supported not only the war in Iran, but putting American ground troops in. Those who are not so charitable to Graham, I would simply say that he sh he shifted with the wind. And when the political wind was that MAGA and Trump was in the ascendancy, rather than trying to hold ground against that, because it did damage the Republican Party, Graham became an enabler of that shift uh all the way until his finals days. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_01 16:02

We've just been looking at images of him meeting President Zelensky in Kyiv. As well, he really uh uh did seem to go to Kyiv many times uh during this war.

SPEAKER_11 16:18

Yeah, I I think one way of explaining that is before this big shift uh that Graham took in terms of supporting uh propping up Trump. He was an ally of John McCain, uh the longtime senator from Arizona, the Republican presidential candidate in 2008. And McCain was a very strong voice in terms of supporting Ukraine against the Russians all the way back to 2014, when the Russians seized Crimea, when they tried to split Ukraine by supporting separatists in the east of the country. And that didn't change. That didn't change with Trump coming into office. We have to stand firm against the Russian invasion. The issue, I think, with Graham is that he he would delay, however, in some of those key issues of that support. So for quite some time, in fact, ever since Trump took office uh in 2025, Graham said, look, we're going to push a a sweeping sanctions pass package on Russia that goes well beyond what the administration does. And indeed, he reiterated that just last week when he went to Kyiv. But that sanctions package had not appeared. And again, those who would be not so charitable would say that Graham was just he was careful. He he felt that if he went too far on Ukraine, he might set himself up against Trump.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

We just um had a statement through from Israel's defense minister saying he's deeply saddened by the passing of U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, who stood with Israel in its most difficult moments, the statement reads. Um He was a staunch supporter of Israel, wasn't he? Talk us through that relationship.

SPEAKER_11 17:53

Yeah, Graham was like many U.S. uh congressional representatives, very much a staunch supporter of Israel uh throughout his 24 years in the Senate. But this became, of course, very marked after Hamas's mass killing inside Israel in October 2003, and then Israel's mass killing inside Gaza that continues to this day. Um and despite, you know, I think criticism of Israel in terms of what some saw as a disproportionate response, Grant was always that this was completely justified, that Israel was standing up against the threat of Hamas, indeed standing up the against the threat of what he would characterize as extreme Islam. Um and that line intersected with his belief in terms of the war on Iran. He saw the Iranian regime as being this existential threat to Israel. So he went well beyond the Trump administration. When the Trump administration uh ceasefired in April, Graham was not happy. Graham had wanted U.S. ground troops to be put in. Uh and uh he you know, had the war in Iran continued and we had this limbo that we're in right now, whether he would have used that as an issue to distance himself from the Trump folks, we can only speculate. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_01 19:06

And despite any differences, I mean he was very influential, wasn't he? It's fair to say.

SPEAKER_11 19:12

Oh yeah. He's absolutely influential. As I said, I think the big thing about Lindsey Graham today, and and first and foremost, we have to remember that a man has died, there will be friends and family who will be affected by this. But Lindsey Graham's death at this time is uh another catalyst in what is a battle between the Trumpist and the establishment Republicans for control of the party, including in the Senate. Because remember, uh, we still don't know what has happened to the former Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, who was a bulwark of that establishment. Now, the establishment Republicans in Trump's first term believed they could sort of maneuver Trump. They could coexist with them to get what they wanted, like tax cuts, like packing conservatives onto courts, including the Supreme Court. And Graham was very much part of that. But Graham went beyond McConnell. He actually, I think, in a sense, was seen as being very obedient to Trump in the end. And that meant the question was would if this became a split in the Republican Party, would Graham stand with the establishment or would he stand with the Trumpist? And right now, I think you are seeing what will be a battle for the soul of the Republican Party in the Senate and beyond. It just probably will not happen with Graham and McConnell, which symbol it at some point means there is a changing of the guard that will take place, whichever direction that means for the GOP.

SPEAKER_01 20:35

Okay. Well, thank you very much uh for sharing your thoughts with us. I really do appreciate it. That's Professor Scott Lucas from University College Dublin. Thank you.

SPEAKER_06 20:44

Are you aware that at 923 on the night of July the 9th, the day you were nominated to the Supreme Court by President Trump, Senator Schumer said 23 minutes after your nomination? I will oppose Judge Kavanaugh's nomination with everything I have. I have a bipartisan and I hope a bipartisan majority will do the same. The stakes are simply too high for anything less. If you are aware of it, you are now. Did you meet with Senator Donovan Feinstein on August 20th?

SPEAKER_05 21:17

I didn't meet with Senator Feinstein.

SPEAKER_06 21:18

Did you know that her staff had already recommended a lawyer to Dr. Ford? I did not know that. Did you know that her and her staff had this allegation for over 20 days? I did not know that at the time. What do you want to do is destroy this guy's life?

SPEAKER_10 25:22

Um I literally got a text notification from my roommate slash fellow reporter Pablo Manriquez. He said that uh uh Lindsay Graham just died, and I responded by saying a word that I can't say on television. Um and uh what immediately I'm just trying to put together in process is that um Senator Graham is uh you know obviously one of 53. Uh this comes at a time when uh the Senate is in palm state of flux, they've been if they were on recesses last two weeks, but now or last week and a half, and but it also comes when Senator McConnell uh has been having health issues. So Republicans really might be down to 51 seats. And also, I think what I would say is that uh Republicans have lost somebody who could kind of talk some sense with President Trump. He was literally uh in Ukraine, as Alex said earlier, um uh to discuss legislation on Russian sanctions. Uh, President Trump, of course, was not that big of a supporter of Ukraine, and uh this was something that he was trying to get across the finish line. Uh uh Senator Graham was also somebody who kind of was an intermediary between Senator Senator Jordan Learn Johnson and uh Senator and the White House. Uh so it really is kind of this uh breakdown. On top of that, I think the other thing that's interesting is that Senator Graham was President Trump's biggest supporter uh when it came to the Iran War. Uh Graham was a military hawk and he made no apologies for it at a time when the Republican Party was really trying to figure out what it believed in foreign policy.

SPEAKER_00 27:10

That's a little mix of Lindsey Graham through the years and uh the of course the news breaking. Uh, we got a couple clips in there that were from the BBC and from a couple of reporters um talking about the news when it hit last night in the middle of the night. Uh I did want to let you hear uh two more things that we had. This is one of the one of the really, when I say he was a good guy and willing to do things for you, um, he actually cut a little promo for me standing in the hall during the third district from Greenwood, South Carolina convention uh in 1995, I believe. Uh I was in college from the I was the chairman of the College Republicans. I was doing a College Republican recruitment video, and you're gonna hear that actual video in this coming season on Bob Dole, because I've I'm kind of mixing in my beginnings of my career. So you're gonna actually hear from Lindsey Graham a couple times in that show because of the material that I saved in 1995 and 1996. Uh but he stayed out in the hall and did a little promo for me. Now there was somebody speaking, he's whispering. The audio in this is terrible. It was comes from a videotape that I made off a camcorder in 1995, but I was just thrilled that he was willing to do it and take the time to do it. And so uh this is that audio from that moment in 1995. Finally, um, we had a video that when my cousin runs the uh family and children's um resource center in Darlington County, and we did a little special edition because Senator Graham came and spoke there uh last year uh and uh we we recorded it. Same thing sounds not always the best, but um this is a speech that he gave and um and it's and it's really good. He's updating everybody on things that are going on. He talks about his his life, uh, shows a little bit of Lindsey Graham humor. And uh and so I thought we would end this show looking back on him uh recording here in the middle of the night um on the day that he passed away. Uh and uh and and we're gonna do some more stuff on Lindsey Graham. I can assure you that we're gonna be covering uh his life and career on this podcast uh in July here now, because this is this is a big moment. And Grant's trend politics, we were actually gonna cover his campaign. Uh we were do we'd already done some uh in the first part of the season, and and of course that was gonna be the main event for uh in the fall uh in the in the season on that podcast, and so we're really just uh this is a sad day for South Carolina and for the nation uh and that we have lost really one of the two giants, I think, of the U.S. Senate in the 21st century, the other being Mitch McConnell, whose health is also now in question. So um again, this is a uh uh a sad day, and and for me it's uh I've lost a friend, a for a person who has helped me tremendously through the years. Um and so it's it's it's uh and and a person whose campaign I was involved with from the very start. So I've watched him go from a State House member to the United States Congress to the United States Senate and uh become a political giant. Uh and I'm very proud of the involvement that I had uh in in those early days and in the later days of his career. So I was there with him the whole time, and it was good to win here uh a month or so ago. With that, let's go to Hartsville and hear Lindsey Graham from uh about this time last year.

SPEAKER_03 31:44

Um buy this and hold box for a dollar a month. Well, I'm gonna give you 10 bucks and 10 months. I made it this far way more than you did. I think I always walls kind of pick up top back. Uh maybe speech a couple weeks ago. Now, what do you do when things are really bad and there seems to be no way forward? Go back to the basics, right? You realize you're never alone. Bring the tool down, not the one. So I think I think inspired with nothing else will not be down a lot. But the case of America great is people like crazy and close to make the same. University now, uh that probably happens a lot. Uh, uh the model, a pull room, and an electrical way, sorry guys.

SPEAKER_02 33:18

I'm a good daddy.

SPEAKER_04 33:27

I think it's a little more cheaper, and we didn't do like a back to school, and then we were closed by a uh car. I was like remembering that.

SPEAKER_03 33:42

And the reason I tell you that is only America to me don't compare to you. And you talk about you know, losing my parents and that 13-year-old sister. Well, if you don't like them, I'll lose them. You know what I'm worried about? People who have no family things. You know, bad things happen to us all, and I thought my life would help me as free to help. My family, my friends fucked me up to help me raise company. And what picked me up at helping a little bit is what do people do in Athens? This place behind me may be the only time of the day that a child has a bread. As somebody that uh uh pays attention to them, not in good condition and points in the right place. I just think a lot of interesting things in the scalar. And it generally needs to get out of later. And uh, this for a hundred years tough. So I thought I could overview a couple things at the end of the news and stay around and take some photos if I think. The big beautiful bit is not a pet. I think it needs to be changed. That needs to change the past. Republicans have said in a hundred years. This doesn't happen at all. When the Democrats had that situation, they passed a volume there and then positioned the motion. When we had it in 2017, we asked. It inspires and incentive. And you're the trend, those tax stuff will be extended and we will make them. I like the work budget making the problem. Well, after 2024, the bug is just gonna be children. I said, I can have things. Two people ahead of you went to other conditions for you. You're real. I think you can change it, you out with everybody to you. And you didn't get their election today. Well, I've learned a lot about our budget real quick. Uh we need to compose thing and get it fixed as quick as we can, and President Trump is the right guy at the right time for a lot of reasons. So my hope is that we can take the house bill, we can make some more spending cuts, reduce the deficit, and change the direct deal in terms of spending and debt, then we could give uh President Trump and Trump team $175 billion to finish security boards. We could almost don't care because we're down to like 10 people there crossing the board. The most amazing thing in politics today is that in four months he has secured the board by four. You want to give money, the military's investing of it. There are a lot of bad guys out there, and they're afraid of Trump, and they have every reason to be afraid of Trump. I'm afraid of Trump. Somebody asked me, what happened between you and Trump? Well, I was going to 16 people ran to Christian. If you don't remember that, it is really not your fault. I see it. I'm the only one who got a t-shirt. But it was something. He called me and said, I want you to help me. I said, I'll think about this. He said, Why did you say all those very things for me? I said, I didn't like you. And uh he said, Well, I was getting too prostate. I did throw up. I said, This thing, from this thing forward, you were my president. I walk this way I can. Then we started playing God. And he is good. He is really good. I gotta do that. He is really good. So what's happened here is that I got to be not only part of this political thing, but killing with his faith. I've never met anybody that goes through so much as he does. From the time he wakes up and the time he goes to bed, they're trying to destroy him and his family, and I don't know how he takes it for you. Perseverance. He leaves his dear permission. You know what I mean? He's back for a reason. Just be patient, folks. We're gonna deliver on the window with this people do it. And this is their thing, just be patient. How many politicians have talked about taking on China? Everybody, for 40 years. Speaker, he's the first guy to do it. He's not gonna change without having to accept some pain. Well, he's got China thinking differently than they were before. The UC Union wants to do a deal with it. We've been ripped off for six years, and those things are coming to them. We had a broken border and he fixed it overnight from sheer will. We're being poisoned by fed law coming from China to Mexico, and things that are changing as Trump is added to China and Mexico killing our gifts. We want peace between Russia and Ukraine. I want peace. This war needs to end. Why does it end? You get into the table and you talk. Well, Putin seems like to be interested in talking. So I've got to do it to push into the table. China buys oil from Russia at half price or less, and that keeps the Russian war machine going. It's now time to punish China with what they put so we can end this war. I don't know what. Have a better relationship with Russia. How many of you believe that this is the never been more worried about the future of the state of Israel than they're back down? They're surrounded. And the world will stand on Israel, not the people who have to kill them. Don't you think the world's upside down? You don't like in the horse. It ain't upside down here. You figure that this is a good place. Israel's our friend. Cutting taxes makes sense. Control and spending, you do it, we ought to do it in Washington. When it comes to Israel, there are five or six groups trying to destroy the Jewish state of South Street on top of Iran. How did you believe that Iran had a nuclear weapon in? I do. And I'm a German to help our friends in Israel. I'd like to solve that without a war. And if Israel needs to take on Iran, I'm gonna have her back. Look what this fans doing. A war in Europe. China cheating in every time. A broken boy. A weakened economy. If I had four years of it, I won't let your mind in the first country doesn't seem like it never. So we got the rest of this year to get a lot of things right. And 2025 can be the biggest year since 1945. By July before, I hope we're well on our way to passing the one big beautiful bill. Make so many sex for us, give money to DOD to defend ourselves, money to shut that corner down, and keep it shut down, regulate this country, and give people a fighting chance to work and for living. And if you're on medicaid and you're poor, and you're a disabled child and disabled adult, I want to help you. If you're on medicaid and you can't work, you shouldn't be working. You're gonna say we're doing there with you, but you gotta do your part. Thanks for coming Russia's way if they don't change their behavior. I think by July the 4th, we're gonna go one way or the other. What happened with the nuclear program? I've never been more worried about the way we live in, and I've never been more hopeful. You know why I'm hopeful? We have the right man being present at the right time. We have a Republican majority that can do things without one Democratic vote. Through reconciliation on the budget general, we can secure the border $175 million without one Democratic vote in the bridge. Same for the military. We can make the tax cuts turned up without one Democratic vote. That means we've got to be together and be a team. Now, speaking of this bad, there's a million reasons not to do something. A failure is highlighted. I come here to harmful to tell you we're not going to let you know. We're going to deliver. God has given us a unique opportunity to govern this nation and change this nation. God has given us the presence and a skill. And do what he wants to do and we'll press ahead and face every adversary you can do into. What is he needed? He needs alone. He needs primitive. And as long as I'm your Senate in the state of South Carolina, I'm going to have President Trump back. I'm going to push his agenda 29 State Senate. Come hello. I'm going to stand up the good and look evil in the eye. And every night I'm going to be on my knees and pray for me. Thank you for coming.