Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a strong ally of US President Donald Trump, has passed away at the age of 71.
He passed away on Saturday night due to a “brief and unexpected illness”, as stated by his office.
Elected to the Senate in 2002, the South Carolina legislator was one of Washington’s key figures in foreign policy, frequently advocating for US military action abroad.
Donald Trump referred to Graham as a “genuine American patriot” who would be “deeply missed”.
Graham had recently come back from Kyiv, where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday.
No health issues were identified prior to his journey.
Trump informed NBC News that he had conversed with Graham just hours prior to his passing, and the senator “sounded great” though somewhat fatigued.
“He was a tough cookie in many ways,” Trump told NBC on Sunday. “If he wanted to get something, if he thought he was right and he had people against him, he could be very tough, actually. But he was a good person.”
US media reports indicate that emergency responders attended to calls about a cardiac arrest at a residence belonging to Graham in Washington, DC, on Saturday night.
Graham had been an outspoken opponent of Donald Trump, referring to him as a “race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot” in 2015. The next year, ahead of the 2016 presidential election, he said: “If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed… and we will deserve it.”
Following the 2021 US Capitol riots, Graham remarked to the Senate, “Trump and I have had a hell of a journey. I hate it to end this way.
“All I can say is count me out. Enough is enough.”
Yet gradually his attitude towards the president became more lenient.
He opposed convicting Trump during the 2021 impeachment trial and endorsed his candidature for the 2024 election.
Graham referenced Trump’s performance regarding the US southern border, the assassination of Iran’s influential military leader Qasem Soleimani, and the selection of conservative judges.
“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,” Graham told the BBC in 2023.
He informed CBS last month that the US would “eradicate” Iran if the nation did not comply with US authority over the Strait of Hormuz. It was among his final televised interviews.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated on Sunday that “Lindsey understood that the security of Israel and America are inseparable.”
Israel has lost “one of its greatest friends”, he remarked.
Graham supported military intervention in Iraq following the September 11 attacks in 2001 and opposed the pullout of US forces from Afghanistan in 2021, calling it a “sad and dangerous event for US national security”.
“Jihadists all over the world are celebrating,” he added. “America will be seen as weak.”
The senator was also a staunch advocate of arming Ukraine and imposing sanctions on Moscow. In a post on X, Zelensky expressed “deep sadness” over his demise.
Graham faced challenges as a young adult, losing both his mother and father within two years of each other while in university.
He raised his younger sister and eventually legally adopted her. After graduating from law school, he joined the US Air Force as a military prosecutor and defence attorney before becoming a US senator.
South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster can now appoint a temporary replacement for Graham.
The death comes after another Republican senator was hospitalised for weeks with an unexplained medical ailment. Aides to Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell have provided few details regarding his condition.
