{"id":294135,"date":"2026-07-13T04:08:32","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T04:08:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/294135\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T04:08:32","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T04:08:32","slug":"trump-details-final-phone-call-with-lindsey-graham-the-night-he-died","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/294135\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump details final phone call with Lindsey Graham the night he died"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 President Trump opened up about his final call<\/a> with late Sen. Lindsey Graham in what\u00a0\u201ccould have been minutes\u201d before his death after returning from a trip overseas.<\/p>\n

Trump, 80, described Graham, 71, as \u201cfamily\u201d\u00a0to him\u00a0and said he was absolutely shocked by the senator\u2019s abrupt passing.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat makes it even stranger is that I got a call last night, sometime [in] the early evening,\u201d Trump recalled to NBC News\u2019 \u201cMeet the Press\u201d<\/a> on Sunday, indicating it may have been around 7 o\u2019clock.<\/p>\n

President Trump opened up about his final call with late Sen. Lindsey Graham in what\u00a0\u201ccould have been minutes\u201d before his death after returning from a trip overseas.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said we\u2019re all set for the SAVE America Act. He was pushing the SAVE America Act like crazy. He got back and said he just landed from Ukraine. <\/a>I said, \u2018That\u2019s a long trip to make.\u2019 He sounded a little tired, but perfect. But a little bit tired.\u201d<\/p>\n

Graham died of a \u201cbrief and sudden illness\u201d Saturday evening, according to his office.\u00a0Graham had made multiple phone calls before his sudden death,\u00a0including\u00a0with CBS News anchor Margaret Brennan, and was slated to appear on her \u201cMeet the Press\u201d show Sunday.<\/p>\n

Along with Trump, Graham has spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Nentayahu and had been spending his final weeks working on a new proposal to normalize Saudi-Israeli relations, Axios reported.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Graham had been a strong supporter of Israel and worked for years to try and reach Saudi-Israeli normalizations as a way to strengthen the region and weaken Iran\u2019s influence.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The new proposal was reportedly set to be pushed following the midterm elections with the goal of reaching an agreement by January.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trump, 80, described Graham, 71, as \u201cfamily\u201d\u00a0to him\u00a0and said he was absolutely shocked by the senator\u2019s abrupt passing. AP Photo\/Alex Brandon<\/p>\n

Graham had been planning a trip to both Saudi Arabia and Israel to revive such talks in the coming weeks after the kingdom\u2019s interest for normalization waned over the war in Gaza.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s going to be appreciated more now than he was when he was living,\u201d Trump predicted.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a tough one to lose.\u00a0He\u00a0was great \u2014 he was unique in every way,\u201d the president added. \u201cHe was like a member of\u00a0the family to me.\u00a0It\u2019s very tough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Washington, DC Fire and EMS medical units bringing Lindsey Graham to George Washington Hospital on July 12, 2026. ZUMAPRESS.com<\/p>\n

The president also hailed Graham as a real patriot who served the American people until his final moment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSenator Lindsey Graham, one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known, is dead! He was always working, and was a true American Patriot,\u201d Trump posted on Truth Social<\/a> early Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cLindsey will be greatly missed!!!\u201d<\/p>\n

Graham\u2019s home in Washington, DC seen on July 12, 2026. Backgrid \/ BACKGRID<\/p>\n

Over 11 years ago, Trump and Graham were bitter rivals in the 2016 Republican presidential primary. Graham warned Republicans against nominating Trump, arguing that he would\u00a0be ruinous for\u00a0the party.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They clashed so much that, at one point, Trump read aloud Graham\u2019s cellphone number at a rally. The late senator then\u00a0cut\u00a0an ad showcasing<\/a>\u00a0him destroying his cellphone in various ways. Graham had been peeved at Trump for dissing his\u00a0friend,\u00a0the late Sen. John McCain.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After Trump first became president, he and Graham initially remained bitter foes. But slowly, Graham began to warm up to Trump and,\u00a0in 2018, mended fences with him\u00a0after his viral defense of now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Graham had just returned from a trip to Ukraine. via REUTERS<\/p>\n

Senator Lindsey Graham (R) speaks to the press alongside President Trump, surrounded by members of Congress, after Trump signed a funding bill to end a partial government shutdown in the Oval Office on February 3, 2026. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cHis moment on Brett Kavanaugh was one of the classics, I think, in the history of the Senate,\u201d Trump reflected, arguing that Kavanaugh was treated unfairly and Graham rightfully lashed out at Democrats in response. \u201cI think that saved Brett Kavanaugh\u2019s Supreme Court ascension.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLindsey did a thing there that I think nobody else\u00a0could\u2019ve done that.\u201d<\/p>\n

During a hearing on Kavanaugh\u2019s nomination\u00a0in the wake of\u00a0Christine Blasey Ford\u2019s accusation, Graham exploded at how the Democrats\u00a0sat on\u00a0her accusations for weeks until right before\u00a0he\u00a0was about to be\u00a0confirmed in\u00a0a viral moment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Latest on the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham:<\/p>\n

Trump\u00a0acknowledged having disagreements with Graham at times, but underscored his respect for him and marveled at his ability to work with Democrats.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I had a really big problem with a certain Democrat, he could work it out.\u00a0That\u2019s something most Republicans can\u2019t do,\u201d Trump told CNN\u2019s \u201cState of the Union.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two often aligned on military spending, support for Israel and taking a hard line against Iran, China and Russia, although Graham at times pushed for a more aggressive US role overseas than Trump favored.<\/p>\n

In recent months, Graham was one of the strongest Republican voices backing Trump\u2019s decision to strike Iran, arguing the military action was necessary to prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lindsey Graham departs a Medal of Honor award ceremony at the White House in June. Aaron Schwartz \u2013 Pool via CNP\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Trump further hailed Graham as a \u201cnatural politician\u201d and a \u201ctough cookie.\u201d\u00a0The two spent many days\u00a0on the golf course\u00a0together\u00a0over\u00a0recent years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought Lindsey was gonna be living forever. I said, \u2018Lindsey, you\u2019re gonna live forever.\u2019 And he was\u00a0gonna\u00a0have a big victory. He was scheduled to win by a lot.\u00a0He was scheduled,\u201d he added to \u201cMeet the Press.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trump noted that he has someone in mind to succeed Graham, but didn\u2019t specify who. Graham was up for reelection this cycle, and Trump\u2019s allies helped him breeze\u00a0through a\u00a0GOP primary despite drawing a challenge\u00a0in part\u00a0because of his hawkish foreign policy views.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 President Trump opened up about his final call with late Sen. Lindsey Graham in what\u00a0\u201ccould have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294136,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[153,112038,9,11,10,87,11996,58],"class_list":["post-294135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-donald-trump","tag-lindsey-graham","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-politics","tag-senators","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}