July 12, 2026
BREAKING: Sen. Lindsey Graham Dead at 71 From "Sudden Illness"
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RSS Feed We are waking up to the shocking news that four term U.S. Senator Lindsay Graham has died from what his office is calling a “brief and sudden illness.” Dispatch calls refer to a cardiac situation and describe CPR being performed on the Senator. We go over Graham’s remarkable political career, including the fact that he was just in Ukraine on Friday meeting with President Zelensky and what happens next in the race to replace him.
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00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey, that folks.
00:00:02
Speaker 2: It is Sunday, July twelfth, and we are hopping on to bring you this breaking news episode. One of the most prominent members of the Senate, one of the most famous members of the Senate, one of the closest allies to the President, Lindsey Graham, has died at the age of seventy one. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Just what was your reaction. I kind of nudged you this morning, kind of whispered in your ear to let you know this had happened.
00:00:32
Speaker 1: Just first reaction.
00:00:33
Speaker 3: I was shocked because he's seventy one. He just turned seventy one, and by everything I've seen and heard and read, he was active. He was scheduled to be on Meet the Press this morning. I just had not heard that he was even ill. It didn't It wasn't on anyone's radar.
00:00:52
Speaker 2: And Robe, you say that, no indications this guy looked tireless. We have seen him on TV. I have seen him in committee meetings, we have seen him on international trips. We see him robes everywhere, engaged in every significant issue in US policy. And so we wake up all of a sudden Lindsay Graham is dead at seventy one.
00:01:16
Speaker 1: Robes. You're right, this guy show no.
00:01:19
Speaker 2: Like there are plenty of senators, some currently that show signs of slowing down.
00:01:24
Speaker 1: Robes.
00:01:25
Speaker 2: This is why this one became so shocking. This was an active, robust member of the Senate.
00:01:31
Speaker 4: Yes.
00:01:31
Speaker 3: In fact, I think one of the first things I said was, if you had told me Mitch McConnell had died, I would have been that wouldn't have been a surprise. That's kind of what everyone is waiting to hear news of, or at least as more as it like that.
00:01:44
Speaker 4: That's right, No, but that is kind of where my head went.
00:01:47
Speaker 3: And I just thought, Lindsay Graham, wait a minute, I hadn't even heard anything about him not doing well.
00:01:53
Speaker 4: That's why it's so shocking.
00:01:55
Speaker 3: He seemed like he was, as you pointed out, just going on full speed ahead.
00:02:01
Speaker 2: At roams full speed. He just got back from Ukraine. He was there Friday, Robes, he was just there Friday. He just came back from an international trip. So let's tell you what happened here now. We'll give you the statement. And it was a brief from his office. But he died. Robes they say, and as of this recording, folks, we were recording this just hours after the news came. But apparently eight or nine o'clock last night is when a call nine to one one call came. And this happened late last night, robes late last night. So the word is just starting to spread this morning. But this is the statement we have from Lindsey Graham's office. This was all they've put out so far.
00:02:38
Speaker 3: It reads, on the evening of Saturday, July eleventh, US Senator Lindsay Graham passed away from a brief and sudden illness. Senator Graham's family appreciates prayers at this time and asked for privacy during this incredibly difficult period. And obviously what stands out is brief and sudden illness. He was in Kiev on Friday. He again had plans to be on Meet the Press. He was scheduled to be on Meet the Press today Sunday. And I don't remember hearing about or seeing I mean, a brief illness.
00:03:10
Speaker 4: He seemed as if he was as healthy as they.
00:03:14
Speaker 2: Come on Friday, going strong on Friday. It seemspes from what is being reported now at least from nine to one one calls and dispatch that's come through that emergency crews were responding to the report of cardiac arrests at his address. Now there are pictures and things online of what the scene outside, ambulance and whatnot, and somebody being taken away in a stretcher. But the only word we got officially is what we just read from his office. But the dispatch, the nine to one one audio does in fact say that he was or there was cardiac arrests. Is why they were called to that home.
00:03:52
Speaker 1: Rose.
00:03:52
Speaker 2: We did say, I mean, this is a guy who he didn't start a lot of people I guess started off the relationships like this with President Trump. But this guy has had some pretty nasty stuff about Trump back in the day. And these two guys were not were not close. They were enemies for sure, But Romes is there a closer ally the President has in the Senate than Lindsey Graham. Lindsey Graham defends everything the President he does.
00:04:16
Speaker 3: He is by Trump's side pretty much as often as he possibly can be. And President Trump did put out a statement as soon as the news came in that Lindsey Graham had passed away, and he put up on truth social Senator 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. Lindsey will be greatly missed. Details and arrangements to follow.
00:04:43
Speaker 4: So sad.
00:04:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, he did romes. He did seem like he was always working.
00:04:49
Speaker 2: This is a guy who was very much with the president in terms of foreign foreign policy in the United States we involved outside of our own borders. He was very much hawkish, as they say, when it comes to these things on foreign policy of US intervention in a lot of places around the world, and he was.
00:05:06
Speaker 1: In lockstep with the president.
00:05:07
Speaker 2: They had their beefs on immigration, I think was the big thing, but other than that, he.
00:05:13
Speaker 1: Was robed in lockstep with the president.
00:05:15
Speaker 2: The president I mean, yes, personally, I'm surely he liked the guy, and it is sad to lose someone he might have personally called a friend. But as far as an ally in the Senate, he just lost a lot.
00:05:26
Speaker 4: He certainly did. And this was a He was a four term centater.
00:05:29
Speaker 3: Began his service his public service back in nineteen ninety five, so he has been a lifetime public servant for this country, and a powerful one at that.
00:05:40
Speaker 4: As senator.
00:05:42
Speaker 2: I think we I mean, I've known about it, rob, but we forget because it goes so when politics takes over and everything seems so partisan, especially the heated divides we have.
00:05:53
Speaker 1: Now, this guy served thirty.
00:05:54
Speaker 2: Three years in the military, right, yeah, I mean, so we forget in the back and forward this guy. I know it's caught up in politics, but this has been a public servant his entire adult life. Robes that stuff should be applauded. I hate and then you can already see it online. No, no, mater, how much you've been you dove into this, but you know, some partisan stuff already going back and forth.
00:06:19
Speaker 1: But I think there is a way everybody.
00:06:22
Speaker 2: Should stop for a second and honor a guy who has served this country for ever.
00:06:28
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, no, And I think that's everyone wants to jump into the political race as to who's going to take a seat, what this means for the balance of power, what this means for President Trump and MAGA supporters. Let's just yes, take a moment and remember Lindsay Graham, who he was, what he contributed to this country and to the world. And I didn't know I don't, or at least I didn't remember that. He was such a long serving member of the military. And yes, served in the House from ninety five to two thousand and three. That's when I got to run into him a little bit when I was a CUB reporter in South Carolina, and he was always kind. I was in his home doing interviews with him. He was very gracious and very much accessible. At least that's how I recall him being and served in the House, yes, for all that time, and then he ran I didn't. I forgot about this. He took strong Thurman seats. You know, in two thousand and two.
00:07:17
Speaker 1: You forget these things. I absolutely forgot.
00:07:20
Speaker 2: The seat is the one that strong throat. How long did Strom throw he was.
00:07:24
Speaker 4: In the nineties. I felt like, did he die of like ninety something?
00:07:28
Speaker 1: You're going to take this Senate seat out of my cold dead hands?
00:07:31
Speaker 4: What happened?
00:07:32
Speaker 1: He held on? But yes, that's the seat.
00:07:34
Speaker 2: That's a it's not iconic, bro, what's the right way to it's an infamous seat.
00:07:39
Speaker 4: It is an infamous seat.
00:07:40
Speaker 3: Indeed, Yes, so I totally forgot that he took over from Strom Thurmon. He did make that run for president back in twenty sixteen, it was brief, didn't last long.
00:07:50
Speaker 2: Didn't even get to the primary vote. I don't he dropped out before the primaries even. But that's when, man, he said some nasty stuff about President Trump. It's amazing to think they could mend things, but he said some nasty stuff.
00:08:02
Speaker 3: You know what, Trump returns fire, if not starts the initial onslaught. So I think he among everyone knows what it's like to sling some mud and then be like, you know, it's just politics, no offense.
00:08:14
Speaker 2: You know what, if we go back and think twenty sixteen, Trump was a much different Trump than.
00:08:19
Speaker 4: Very much so.
00:08:21
Speaker 1: He was a different guy. Oh, he was new on the scene. I mean he was he was fresh.
00:08:25
Speaker 4: Off the Apprentice. He was like a TV guy. I mean that's he was just he was.
00:08:30
Speaker 1: A TV guy. We didn't take him seriously.
00:08:32
Speaker 4: No, we did not take him seriously.
00:08:34
Speaker 3: No one thought he was going to get that seat, and certainly no one thought he was going to become president.
00:08:38
Speaker 1: Nobody sport.
00:08:40
Speaker 2: It was entertainment it was at the time, and folks weren't paying attention to the right places, to the people he was speaking to. We're not going on too a Trump thing here, But point being, at that time he was saying some awful things about Trump.
00:08:50
Speaker 1: Now they are as in lockstep. He defends the President on damn near.
00:08:55
Speaker 3: Everything because he knows how to be a good politician, and he was running for reelection and he knew, especially in the state of South Carolina, he needed President Trump's approval.
00:09:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, he walked through his primary no problem and was expected to go on and have a fifth term seventy one years old. Oh, in the Senate he got another twenty is possibly in the Senate, but yes, his and I forgot about this as well.
00:09:21
Speaker 1: And Robes.
00:09:22
Speaker 2: There was a time Lieberman, McCain, Oh my god, right, there was a time where these yes partisan guys, hard partisan guys could still.
00:09:32
Speaker 1: Find ways to work together. And John McCain, Joe Lieberman. I know people got all.
00:09:38
Speaker 2: Kinds of political disagreements with these guys and hate some of the policies they made, but those are old school senators who found ways to work together. And they were called the three amigos, Graham, McCain, and Lieberman. That's old school.
00:09:52
Speaker 3: I totally forgot about that. You've got a Democrat, a moderate, and then a more right leaning Republican all in lockstep, and that was how things got accomplished. That was the only way things got done, is if you had a an alliance, an unlikely alliance like those three that I totally had forgotten about.
00:10:11
Speaker 2: You know, we do we see that anymore. Who's the guy Rocanna and somebody on the House side came to go on the Epstein thing.
00:10:18
Speaker 1: But we don't see these.
00:10:19
Speaker 2: Very rare like these are like solidly Republicans, solidly Democrat guys working together. We just don't see that anymore. It's like automatic, you're a Republican, you gotta be over here. You're a Democrats, you gotta be over here. And if you're not, the President will come campaign against you and make you lose your House seat or your Senate. See, it's just that's it's.
00:10:39
Speaker 3: It's like under the threat of like wafia life retaliation stuff.
00:10:44
Speaker 1: For the consequences if you don't do it, kiss.
00:10:47
Speaker 4: The ring or else.
00:10:48
Speaker 2: It really has been but yeah, it just you know, and I think lately Lindsey Graham has been more so in lockstep with the He doesn't seem I guess we just don't see that anymore. But he was part of robes and I guess an old school mindset of yes, we can still work together no matter how hard we fight over issues. And I guess we're losing that a lot of people might look at this and go, yeah, he's just a Trump soldier. So I don't know people look at him that way. It's just I forgot about his service, Robes. I forgot thirty three years in the military. He was an Air Force lawyer. He serves as a judge in the military. For a little while while I think during the rock it's just that's service, Robes, that's just service. And I stop and I can applaud and appreciate that.
00:11:34
Speaker 4: It's crazy too.
00:11:35
Speaker 3: We're looking on television and the tributes that are now if you turn on your TV, you will see them everywhere. For Lindsey Graham, which is showing the last pictures. He was there with Zelenski in Ukraine on Friday. We're talking two days ago. He was shaking hands with President Zelenski. And to think that we don't know exactly what happened, but and he's smiling, he looks healthy, he looks he always.
00:11:58
Speaker 4: Had that signature smile about him.
00:11:59
Speaker 3: I remember you had to have interviewed him plenty of times on CNNC, MSNBC. I used to talk about the political Permegrane. Lindsey Graham was exhibit A. He always, no matter what he was talking about, no matter if it was difficult or he didn't like your question, he answered with a smile on his face every single time.
00:12:18
Speaker 2: There was a true Southern gentlemanly way about him and how he carried himself. That's recognizable immediately to put people from the South, certainly somebody like you spent time in South Carolina.
00:12:30
Speaker 1: There's the thing.
00:12:31
Speaker 2: There's a drawl, there's a yep, there's something that still comes out when he's sitting there in a committee room and sitting in that seat and grilling somebody. He is still like, there's just a slower way of talking. There's just a drawl, there's just he always carried that South Carolinian.
00:12:47
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:12:47
Speaker 1: He was born and raised in that state.
00:12:48
Speaker 2: So yeah, he went to the University of South Carolina, got his undergrad and his law degree.
00:12:53
Speaker 1: This is a South Carolina dude.
00:12:54
Speaker 3: He's a Southern gentleman like you could just no matter what he was saying, he would say it with some charm and some warmth, kind of be like, bless your little heart, yes, you know, and then he just eviscerates you.
00:13:07
Speaker 4: But it sounded so nice as he was doing it.
00:13:11
Speaker 2: The tribute you just talked about Zelensky, he put up a tribute as well, calling him a true defender of freedom. We did here, look folks like you got, folks like Zelenski and Netan Yahoo. I mean putting out statements and tributes to this guy less you know Robes.
00:13:26
Speaker 1: He was very much.
00:13:27
Speaker 2: Engaged in US foreign policy, and he was very much a supporter of Ukraine and of Israel.
00:13:33
Speaker 3: Yes, in fact, Netanyahoo put out this statement, Israel has lost one of its greatest friends. America has lost a great patriot, and that is very true.
00:13:44
Speaker 4: You know, the world is going to have.
00:13:49
Speaker 3: One last person who I do believe had his heart in it for all the right reasons, was fighting for the values he believed in. And I always did think that of him, Whether I always I didn't always agree with him, but I do believe he was somebody who was fighting for his truths and for what he thought was the right thing to do. He didn't feel, you know, with all of the politicians we see today, he didn't go into those I know you said he had tough words for President Trump, but I don't think of him as being mean spirited or ugly, or underhanded or manipulative, or being just going on.
00:14:25
Speaker 4: Social media and saying things like he wasn't.
00:14:28
Speaker 3: And I appreciated that he had some dignity and some respect for the profession and for the title of which he held.
00:14:36
Speaker 2: People will say whatever they want to say. From a partisan standpoint, you can take issue with it. But on these moments, Robes, it's okay to see him as a human being before you see him as a politician or as a Republican, or as a senator or as an ally of Trump. Is a human being who served this country and his family is missing him today, and I don't know we should.
00:14:55
Speaker 1: Stop and honor his service. But stay here.
00:14:57
Speaker 2: Of course, the words and the the attention will turn to what happens now in the Senate, a Senate that is down at this point two Republican votes. Stay here, all right, We continue here on this Sunday Breaking news episode. A lot of people just waking up getting word that Senator Lindsay Graham, long time, long time Republican senator from the state of South Carolina, has died after a sudden a brief and sudden illness is the way his office put it. But died overnight last night. This is just happening. We're coming out this morning, Robes. Yes, there will be remembrances, there will be more statements that come out. And even as we record this, Robes, there's the majority of this country is not aware. That's true that Senator Lindsay Graham has passed. The conversation will turn to what's happening in the Senate? I say, turned to the conversation had already been there. Yes, the numbers are very close already, and now you got Robes, this is two Republicans.
00:16:00
Speaker 1: One has passed. One. We're not exactly sure what's going on with.
00:16:03
Speaker 3: Yes, Mitch McConnell is in the hospital, and his condition truly is unknown. We've only been told by his staff, generally speaking, that he's improving, and from what exactly.
00:16:15
Speaker 4: We don't know.
00:16:15
Speaker 3: What we know that there was a nine to one to one call speaking once again of cardiac arrest and CPR. But we also only have to take the words from a few senators who claim they each had twenty minute conversations with him about current events always be twenty minutes, because I guess proving that he could hold a twenty minute conversation, I don't know. It all seemed very suspicious because we haven't seen him, we haven't heard him, and we certainly haven't got any details about his condition. That's all bizarre when you think a full month has passed and we don't know a word of where or what condition Mitch.
00:16:50
Speaker 1: Mcconnelly's and what was it.
00:16:52
Speaker 2: He hasn't voted since what So he hasn't been he hasn't been working, he.
00:16:55
Speaker 3: Hasn't been I don't believe he's voted since early juh Okay.
00:16:59
Speaker 2: So the numbers in Senate are what they are, fifty seven excuse me, fifty three forty seven Republicans hold. But nowbes Lindsay Graham is not going to be He's passed, and now you have a second Republican vote that member McConnell, who is not voting Robes.
00:17:18
Speaker 1: It does.
00:17:18
Speaker 2: This changes what the president is able to do. It changes the agenda, It changes what can go through. It makes things a little more difficult right now, the rules moving forward? So what happens in South Carolina? So the governor has a decision to make here.
00:17:32
Speaker 3: Yes, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, according to law, will now be able to appoint someone to fill Lindsay Graham's seat until January third of next year. What I don't know what happens is with the election now, because he obviously defeated multiple primary challengers in June, he easily handily secured the nomination for what would have been his term there in the US Senate.
00:18:02
Speaker 4: So now they will have to.
00:18:03
Speaker 3: Find a replacement and hold a special primary election, which is expected August eleventh.
00:18:10
Speaker 2: Okay, so yes, you see the scramble. Now they got a month a month. So he defeated I think Rod with at least five challengers in the primary.
00:18:21
Speaker 1: I guess you can imagine all of them.
00:18:23
Speaker 2: Must run it back and it's going to be a special election for them to Now for the Republicans to find another nominee to put on the ballot to go up in November, and then after that that person would be sworn in in January. But the governor there, the Republican governor, does have the opportunity to put somebody in place that is a reliable Republican if he wants at least to finish out Senator Graham's term.
00:18:47
Speaker 3: H yeah, I think right now, it looked like the biggest threat from that primary was a man, a businessman named Mark Lynch, who self funded his campaign five million dollars. So he's a wealthy businessman from South Carolina and he was.
00:19:01
Speaker 4: His closest competitor.
00:19:02
Speaker 3: So I actually have to go look and see what the results were if I can go find out.
00:19:08
Speaker 2: But yeah, it's it's there's no threat at least right now, no concern that the seat is going to go to a Democrat.
00:19:17
Speaker 1: But robes there that's a pretty big butt.
00:19:19
Speaker 2: I mean, Lindsey Graham is not going to have that name recognition on that ballot.
00:19:25
Speaker 1: He's the next guy. I mean, is it going to be a solidly Republican win.
00:19:30
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean it's hard to say. I don't know. It's we'll have to wait and see.
00:19:34
Speaker 3: And certainly it's not going to be too big of a concern for Trump at this point because it is a Republican governor who's going to appoint obviously a Republican and probably will consult with President Trump before doing so.
00:19:47
Speaker 2: You make a very good point, Yes that's probably going to happen. What was he hap Okay, he won Ropes. He got fifty seven percent of the vote in the primary. Lynch was his next competitor at twenty nine percent. He overwhelmingly, overwhelmingly he needed to get at least fifty percent. He got damn near sixty. So yes, But his next closest competitor, Robes.
00:20:07
Speaker 4: Lynch is that business man.
00:20:08
Speaker 2: After that, the next person had only five percent of the vote. So it looks like Mark Lynch.
00:20:13
Speaker 1: Right now would be a shoe in to pick up the nomination.
00:20:15
Speaker 4: What a crazy turn of events.
00:20:17
Speaker 3: I bet you he was never expecting, as none of us were, that this would be even on the horizon or a possibility. Lindsay Graham gave no indication, like no physical indication that anything was wrong.
00:20:29
Speaker 4: Look, I think it's just another reminder.
00:20:31
Speaker 3: You can be active and busy and feeling great at seventy one or at any age, and the next day everything can change. It's just one of those moments. I always try to remember this and just say, hug the people you love, Tell the people you love that you love them. Just remember that we are not guaranteed tomorrow. And this is a prime example.
00:20:54
Speaker 2: Well, the news this morning more will come out more tribute to expect to see. Not sure how much more rogues we will get about what happened. There's been plenty of talk here lately about transparency and the health of members of Congress. Wrote from Tom Cain, who just showed up again after being absent for months, letting folks know he had depression and that's why he was out of the public view. And also miss McConnell ropes. They've told us nothing, damn near nothing. We don't know what's.
00:21:24
Speaker 1: Going on with him right now.
00:21:26
Speaker 2: And now Lindsay Grant again, this was sudden, and this was brief, and like I just said, rogue. So maybe we will learn more. But yeah, that's a tough day and a sad day and a shocking day to wake up to hear that one of the most maybe one of the most famous members of the Senate right now, has passed away at the age of seventy one.
00:21:43
Speaker 3: Well without everyone, We always appreciate you listening to us. I'm Amy Robock alongside TJ.
00:21:48
Speaker 4: Holmes. We will talk to you soon.
Speaker 1: Hey, that folks.
00:00:02
Speaker 2: It is Sunday, July twelfth, and we are hopping on to bring you this breaking news episode. One of the most prominent members of the Senate, one of the most famous members of the Senate, one of the closest allies to the President, Lindsey Graham, has died at the age of seventy one. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Just what was your reaction. I kind of nudged you this morning, kind of whispered in your ear to let you know this had happened.
00:00:32
Speaker 1: Just first reaction.
00:00:33
Speaker 3: I was shocked because he's seventy one. He just turned seventy one, and by everything I've seen and heard and read, he was active. He was scheduled to be on Meet the Press this morning. I just had not heard that he was even ill. It didn't It wasn't on anyone's radar.
00:00:52
Speaker 2: And Robe, you say that, no indications this guy looked tireless. We have seen him on TV. I have seen him in committee meetings, we have seen him on international trips. We see him robes everywhere, engaged in every significant issue in US policy. And so we wake up all of a sudden Lindsay Graham is dead at seventy one.
00:01:16
Speaker 1: Robes. You're right, this guy show no.
00:01:19
Speaker 2: Like there are plenty of senators, some currently that show signs of slowing down.
00:01:24
Speaker 1: Robes.
00:01:25
Speaker 2: This is why this one became so shocking. This was an active, robust member of the Senate.
00:01:31
Speaker 4: Yes.
00:01:31
Speaker 3: In fact, I think one of the first things I said was, if you had told me Mitch McConnell had died, I would have been that wouldn't have been a surprise. That's kind of what everyone is waiting to hear news of, or at least as more as it like that.
00:01:44
Speaker 4: That's right, No, but that is kind of where my head went.
00:01:47
Speaker 3: And I just thought, Lindsay Graham, wait a minute, I hadn't even heard anything about him not doing well.
00:01:53
Speaker 4: That's why it's so shocking.
00:01:55
Speaker 3: He seemed like he was, as you pointed out, just going on full speed ahead.
00:02:01
Speaker 2: At roams full speed. He just got back from Ukraine. He was there Friday, Robes, he was just there Friday. He just came back from an international trip. So let's tell you what happened here now. We'll give you the statement. And it was a brief from his office. But he died. Robes they say, and as of this recording, folks, we were recording this just hours after the news came. But apparently eight or nine o'clock last night is when a call nine to one one call came. And this happened late last night, robes late last night. So the word is just starting to spread this morning. But this is the statement we have from Lindsey Graham's office. This was all they've put out so far.
00:02:38
Speaker 3: It reads, on the evening of Saturday, July eleventh, US Senator Lindsay Graham passed away from a brief and sudden illness. Senator Graham's family appreciates prayers at this time and asked for privacy during this incredibly difficult period. And obviously what stands out is brief and sudden illness. He was in Kiev on Friday. He again had plans to be on Meet the Press. He was scheduled to be on Meet the Press today Sunday. And I don't remember hearing about or seeing I mean, a brief illness.
00:03:10
Speaker 4: He seemed as if he was as healthy as they.
00:03:14
Speaker 2: Come on Friday, going strong on Friday. It seemspes from what is being reported now at least from nine to one one calls and dispatch that's come through that emergency crews were responding to the report of cardiac arrests at his address. Now there are pictures and things online of what the scene outside, ambulance and whatnot, and somebody being taken away in a stretcher. But the only word we got officially is what we just read from his office. But the dispatch, the nine to one one audio does in fact say that he was or there was cardiac arrests. Is why they were called to that home.
00:03:52
Speaker 1: Rose.
00:03:52
Speaker 2: We did say, I mean, this is a guy who he didn't start a lot of people I guess started off the relationships like this with President Trump. But this guy has had some pretty nasty stuff about Trump back in the day. And these two guys were not were not close. They were enemies for sure, But Romes is there a closer ally the President has in the Senate than Lindsey Graham. Lindsey Graham defends everything the President he does.
00:04:16
Speaker 3: He is by Trump's side pretty much as often as he possibly can be. And President Trump did put out a statement as soon as the news came in that Lindsey Graham had passed away, and he put up on truth social Senator 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. Lindsey will be greatly missed. Details and arrangements to follow.
00:04:43
Speaker 4: So sad.
00:04:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, he did romes. He did seem like he was always working.
00:04:49
Speaker 2: This is a guy who was very much with the president in terms of foreign foreign policy in the United States we involved outside of our own borders. He was very much hawkish, as they say, when it comes to these things on foreign policy of US intervention in a lot of places around the world, and he was.
00:05:06
Speaker 1: In lockstep with the president.
00:05:07
Speaker 2: They had their beefs on immigration, I think was the big thing, but other than that, he.
00:05:13
Speaker 1: Was robed in lockstep with the president.
00:05:15
Speaker 2: The president I mean, yes, personally, I'm surely he liked the guy, and it is sad to lose someone he might have personally called a friend. But as far as an ally in the Senate, he just lost a lot.
00:05:26
Speaker 4: He certainly did. And this was a He was a four term centater.
00:05:29
Speaker 3: Began his service his public service back in nineteen ninety five, so he has been a lifetime public servant for this country, and a powerful one at that.
00:05:40
Speaker 4: As senator.
00:05:42
Speaker 2: I think we I mean, I've known about it, rob, but we forget because it goes so when politics takes over and everything seems so partisan, especially the heated divides we have.
00:05:53
Speaker 1: Now, this guy served thirty.
00:05:54
Speaker 2: Three years in the military, right, yeah, I mean, so we forget in the back and forward this guy. I know it's caught up in politics, but this has been a public servant his entire adult life. Robes that stuff should be applauded. I hate and then you can already see it online. No, no, mater, how much you've been you dove into this, but you know, some partisan stuff already going back and forth.
00:06:19
Speaker 1: But I think there is a way everybody.
00:06:22
Speaker 2: Should stop for a second and honor a guy who has served this country for ever.
00:06:28
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, no, And I think that's everyone wants to jump into the political race as to who's going to take a seat, what this means for the balance of power, what this means for President Trump and MAGA supporters. Let's just yes, take a moment and remember Lindsay Graham, who he was, what he contributed to this country and to the world. And I didn't know I don't, or at least I didn't remember that. He was such a long serving member of the military. And yes, served in the House from ninety five to two thousand and three. That's when I got to run into him a little bit when I was a CUB reporter in South Carolina, and he was always kind. I was in his home doing interviews with him. He was very gracious and very much accessible. At least that's how I recall him being and served in the House, yes, for all that time, and then he ran I didn't. I forgot about this. He took strong Thurman seats. You know, in two thousand and two.
00:07:17
Speaker 1: You forget these things. I absolutely forgot.
00:07:20
Speaker 2: The seat is the one that strong throat. How long did Strom throw he was.
00:07:24
Speaker 4: In the nineties. I felt like, did he die of like ninety something?
00:07:28
Speaker 1: You're going to take this Senate seat out of my cold dead hands?
00:07:31
Speaker 4: What happened?
00:07:32
Speaker 1: He held on? But yes, that's the seat.
00:07:34
Speaker 2: That's a it's not iconic, bro, what's the right way to it's an infamous seat.
00:07:39
Speaker 4: It is an infamous seat.
00:07:40
Speaker 3: Indeed, Yes, so I totally forgot that he took over from Strom Thurmon. He did make that run for president back in twenty sixteen, it was brief, didn't last long.
00:07:50
Speaker 2: Didn't even get to the primary vote. I don't he dropped out before the primaries even. But that's when, man, he said some nasty stuff about President Trump. It's amazing to think they could mend things, but he said some nasty stuff.
00:08:02
Speaker 3: You know what, Trump returns fire, if not starts the initial onslaught. So I think he among everyone knows what it's like to sling some mud and then be like, you know, it's just politics, no offense.
00:08:14
Speaker 2: You know what, if we go back and think twenty sixteen, Trump was a much different Trump than.
00:08:19
Speaker 4: Very much so.
00:08:21
Speaker 1: He was a different guy. Oh, he was new on the scene. I mean he was he was fresh.
00:08:25
Speaker 4: Off the Apprentice. He was like a TV guy. I mean that's he was just he was.
00:08:30
Speaker 1: A TV guy. We didn't take him seriously.
00:08:32
Speaker 4: No, we did not take him seriously.
00:08:34
Speaker 3: No one thought he was going to get that seat, and certainly no one thought he was going to become president.
00:08:38
Speaker 1: Nobody sport.
00:08:40
Speaker 2: It was entertainment it was at the time, and folks weren't paying attention to the right places, to the people he was speaking to. We're not going on too a Trump thing here, But point being, at that time he was saying some awful things about Trump.
00:08:50
Speaker 1: Now they are as in lockstep. He defends the President on damn near.
00:08:55
Speaker 3: Everything because he knows how to be a good politician, and he was running for reelection and he knew, especially in the state of South Carolina, he needed President Trump's approval.
00:09:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, he walked through his primary no problem and was expected to go on and have a fifth term seventy one years old. Oh, in the Senate he got another twenty is possibly in the Senate, but yes, his and I forgot about this as well.
00:09:21
Speaker 1: And Robes.
00:09:22
Speaker 2: There was a time Lieberman, McCain, Oh my god, right, there was a time where these yes partisan guys, hard partisan guys could still.
00:09:32
Speaker 1: Find ways to work together. And John McCain, Joe Lieberman. I know people got all.
00:09:38
Speaker 2: Kinds of political disagreements with these guys and hate some of the policies they made, but those are old school senators who found ways to work together. And they were called the three amigos, Graham, McCain, and Lieberman. That's old school.
00:09:52
Speaker 3: I totally forgot about that. You've got a Democrat, a moderate, and then a more right leaning Republican all in lockstep, and that was how things got accomplished. That was the only way things got done, is if you had a an alliance, an unlikely alliance like those three that I totally had forgotten about.
00:10:11
Speaker 2: You know, we do we see that anymore. Who's the guy Rocanna and somebody on the House side came to go on the Epstein thing.
00:10:18
Speaker 1: But we don't see these.
00:10:19
Speaker 2: Very rare like these are like solidly Republicans, solidly Democrat guys working together. We just don't see that anymore. It's like automatic, you're a Republican, you gotta be over here. You're a Democrats, you gotta be over here. And if you're not, the President will come campaign against you and make you lose your House seat or your Senate. See, it's just that's it's.
00:10:39
Speaker 3: It's like under the threat of like wafia life retaliation stuff.
00:10:44
Speaker 1: For the consequences if you don't do it, kiss.
00:10:47
Speaker 4: The ring or else.
00:10:48
Speaker 2: It really has been but yeah, it just you know, and I think lately Lindsey Graham has been more so in lockstep with the He doesn't seem I guess we just don't see that anymore. But he was part of robes and I guess an old school mindset of yes, we can still work together no matter how hard we fight over issues. And I guess we're losing that a lot of people might look at this and go, yeah, he's just a Trump soldier. So I don't know people look at him that way. It's just I forgot about his service, Robes. I forgot thirty three years in the military. He was an Air Force lawyer. He serves as a judge in the military. For a little while while I think during the rock it's just that's service, Robes, that's just service. And I stop and I can applaud and appreciate that.
00:11:34
Speaker 4: It's crazy too.
00:11:35
Speaker 3: We're looking on television and the tributes that are now if you turn on your TV, you will see them everywhere. For Lindsey Graham, which is showing the last pictures. He was there with Zelenski in Ukraine on Friday. We're talking two days ago. He was shaking hands with President Zelenski. And to think that we don't know exactly what happened, but and he's smiling, he looks healthy, he looks he always.
00:11:58
Speaker 4: Had that signature smile about him.
00:11:59
Speaker 3: I remember you had to have interviewed him plenty of times on CNNC, MSNBC. I used to talk about the political Permegrane. Lindsey Graham was exhibit A. He always, no matter what he was talking about, no matter if it was difficult or he didn't like your question, he answered with a smile on his face every single time.
00:12:18
Speaker 2: There was a true Southern gentlemanly way about him and how he carried himself. That's recognizable immediately to put people from the South, certainly somebody like you spent time in South Carolina.
00:12:30
Speaker 1: There's the thing.
00:12:31
Speaker 2: There's a drawl, there's a yep, there's something that still comes out when he's sitting there in a committee room and sitting in that seat and grilling somebody. He is still like, there's just a slower way of talking. There's just a drawl, there's just he always carried that South Carolinian.
00:12:47
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:12:47
Speaker 1: He was born and raised in that state.
00:12:48
Speaker 2: So yeah, he went to the University of South Carolina, got his undergrad and his law degree.
00:12:53
Speaker 1: This is a South Carolina dude.
00:12:54
Speaker 3: He's a Southern gentleman like you could just no matter what he was saying, he would say it with some charm and some warmth, kind of be like, bless your little heart, yes, you know, and then he just eviscerates you.
00:13:07
Speaker 4: But it sounded so nice as he was doing it.
00:13:11
Speaker 2: The tribute you just talked about Zelensky, he put up a tribute as well, calling him a true defender of freedom. We did here, look folks like you got, folks like Zelenski and Netan Yahoo. I mean putting out statements and tributes to this guy less you know Robes.
00:13:26
Speaker 1: He was very much.
00:13:27
Speaker 2: Engaged in US foreign policy, and he was very much a supporter of Ukraine and of Israel.
00:13:33
Speaker 3: Yes, in fact, Netanyahoo put out this statement, Israel has lost one of its greatest friends. America has lost a great patriot, and that is very true.
00:13:44
Speaker 4: You know, the world is going to have.
00:13:49
Speaker 3: One last person who I do believe had his heart in it for all the right reasons, was fighting for the values he believed in. And I always did think that of him, Whether I always I didn't always agree with him, but I do believe he was somebody who was fighting for his truths and for what he thought was the right thing to do. He didn't feel, you know, with all of the politicians we see today, he didn't go into those I know you said he had tough words for President Trump, but I don't think of him as being mean spirited or ugly, or underhanded or manipulative, or being just going on.
00:14:25
Speaker 4: Social media and saying things like he wasn't.
00:14:28
Speaker 3: And I appreciated that he had some dignity and some respect for the profession and for the title of which he held.
00:14:36
Speaker 2: People will say whatever they want to say. From a partisan standpoint, you can take issue with it. But on these moments, Robes, it's okay to see him as a human being before you see him as a politician or as a Republican, or as a senator or as an ally of Trump. Is a human being who served this country and his family is missing him today, and I don't know we should.
00:14:55
Speaker 1: Stop and honor his service. But stay here.
00:14:57
Speaker 2: Of course, the words and the the attention will turn to what happens now in the Senate, a Senate that is down at this point two Republican votes. Stay here, all right, We continue here on this Sunday Breaking news episode. A lot of people just waking up getting word that Senator Lindsay Graham, long time, long time Republican senator from the state of South Carolina, has died after a sudden a brief and sudden illness is the way his office put it. But died overnight last night. This is just happening. We're coming out this morning, Robes. Yes, there will be remembrances, there will be more statements that come out. And even as we record this, Robes, there's the majority of this country is not aware. That's true that Senator Lindsay Graham has passed. The conversation will turn to what's happening in the Senate? I say, turned to the conversation had already been there. Yes, the numbers are very close already, and now you got Robes, this is two Republicans.
00:16:00
Speaker 1: One has passed. One. We're not exactly sure what's going on with.
00:16:03
Speaker 3: Yes, Mitch McConnell is in the hospital, and his condition truly is unknown. We've only been told by his staff, generally speaking, that he's improving, and from what exactly.
00:16:15
Speaker 4: We don't know.
00:16:15
Speaker 3: What we know that there was a nine to one to one call speaking once again of cardiac arrest and CPR. But we also only have to take the words from a few senators who claim they each had twenty minute conversations with him about current events always be twenty minutes, because I guess proving that he could hold a twenty minute conversation, I don't know. It all seemed very suspicious because we haven't seen him, we haven't heard him, and we certainly haven't got any details about his condition. That's all bizarre when you think a full month has passed and we don't know a word of where or what condition Mitch.
00:16:50
Speaker 1: Mcconnelly's and what was it.
00:16:52
Speaker 2: He hasn't voted since what So he hasn't been he hasn't been working, he.
00:16:55
Speaker 3: Hasn't been I don't believe he's voted since early juh Okay.
00:16:59
Speaker 2: So the numbers in Senate are what they are, fifty seven excuse me, fifty three forty seven Republicans hold. But nowbes Lindsay Graham is not going to be He's passed, and now you have a second Republican vote that member McConnell, who is not voting Robes.
00:17:18
Speaker 1: It does.
00:17:18
Speaker 2: This changes what the president is able to do. It changes the agenda, It changes what can go through. It makes things a little more difficult right now, the rules moving forward? So what happens in South Carolina? So the governor has a decision to make here.
00:17:32
Speaker 3: Yes, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, according to law, will now be able to appoint someone to fill Lindsay Graham's seat until January third of next year. What I don't know what happens is with the election now, because he obviously defeated multiple primary challengers in June, he easily handily secured the nomination for what would have been his term there in the US Senate.
00:18:02
Speaker 4: So now they will have to.
00:18:03
Speaker 3: Find a replacement and hold a special primary election, which is expected August eleventh.
00:18:10
Speaker 2: Okay, so yes, you see the scramble. Now they got a month a month. So he defeated I think Rod with at least five challengers in the primary.
00:18:21
Speaker 1: I guess you can imagine all of them.
00:18:23
Speaker 2: Must run it back and it's going to be a special election for them to Now for the Republicans to find another nominee to put on the ballot to go up in November, and then after that that person would be sworn in in January. But the governor there, the Republican governor, does have the opportunity to put somebody in place that is a reliable Republican if he wants at least to finish out Senator Graham's term.
00:18:47
Speaker 3: H yeah, I think right now, it looked like the biggest threat from that primary was a man, a businessman named Mark Lynch, who self funded his campaign five million dollars. So he's a wealthy businessman from South Carolina and he was.
00:19:01
Speaker 4: His closest competitor.
00:19:02
Speaker 3: So I actually have to go look and see what the results were if I can go find out.
00:19:08
Speaker 2: But yeah, it's it's there's no threat at least right now, no concern that the seat is going to go to a Democrat.
00:19:17
Speaker 1: But robes there that's a pretty big butt.
00:19:19
Speaker 2: I mean, Lindsey Graham is not going to have that name recognition on that ballot.
00:19:25
Speaker 1: He's the next guy. I mean, is it going to be a solidly Republican win.
00:19:30
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean it's hard to say. I don't know. It's we'll have to wait and see.
00:19:34
Speaker 3: And certainly it's not going to be too big of a concern for Trump at this point because it is a Republican governor who's going to appoint obviously a Republican and probably will consult with President Trump before doing so.
00:19:47
Speaker 2: You make a very good point, Yes that's probably going to happen. What was he hap Okay, he won Ropes. He got fifty seven percent of the vote in the primary. Lynch was his next competitor at twenty nine percent. He overwhelmingly, overwhelmingly he needed to get at least fifty percent. He got damn near sixty. So yes, But his next closest competitor, Robes.
00:20:07
Speaker 4: Lynch is that business man.
00:20:08
Speaker 2: After that, the next person had only five percent of the vote. So it looks like Mark Lynch.
00:20:13
Speaker 1: Right now would be a shoe in to pick up the nomination.
00:20:15
Speaker 4: What a crazy turn of events.
00:20:17
Speaker 3: I bet you he was never expecting, as none of us were, that this would be even on the horizon or a possibility. Lindsay Graham gave no indication, like no physical indication that anything was wrong.
00:20:29
Speaker 4: Look, I think it's just another reminder.
00:20:31
Speaker 3: You can be active and busy and feeling great at seventy one or at any age, and the next day everything can change. It's just one of those moments. I always try to remember this and just say, hug the people you love, Tell the people you love that you love them. Just remember that we are not guaranteed tomorrow. And this is a prime example.
00:20:54
Speaker 2: Well, the news this morning more will come out more tribute to expect to see. Not sure how much more rogues we will get about what happened. There's been plenty of talk here lately about transparency and the health of members of Congress. Wrote from Tom Cain, who just showed up again after being absent for months, letting folks know he had depression and that's why he was out of the public view. And also miss McConnell ropes. They've told us nothing, damn near nothing. We don't know what's.
00:21:24
Speaker 1: Going on with him right now.
00:21:26
Speaker 2: And now Lindsay Grant again, this was sudden, and this was brief, and like I just said, rogue. So maybe we will learn more. But yeah, that's a tough day and a sad day and a shocking day to wake up to hear that one of the most maybe one of the most famous members of the Senate right now, has passed away at the age of seventy one.
00:21:43
Speaker 3: Well without everyone, We always appreciate you listening to us. I'm Amy Robock alongside TJ.
00:21:48
Speaker 4: Holmes. We will talk to you soon.