New documentary footage featuring Sen. Lindsey Graham is revealing what the late politician considered to be his greatest accomplishment before his shocking death at age 71.
“It’s the best thing I’ve ever done. He loves blowing stuff up,” Graham said of the ongoing war in Iran and President Donald Trump’s apparent affection for war while speaking to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in never-before-seen footage from documentary filmmaker Alex Holder’s ongoing project, Lindsey’s Game.
“He hasn’t tweeted much at all,” Graham added in the footage of Trump, 80, who is known to spend much of his time on his social media platform, Truth Social. “No drama. He’s been a great wartime president. I said last night that Trump and Bibi are like Roosevelt and Churchill.”
Holder spent four years embedded with the former senator for the project, which began filming in late 2021 and is currently in post-production. No release date or distributor has been announced at the time of publication.
“The level of access Senator Graham gave our team was truly remarkable,” Holder said in a Sunday, July 26, appearance on CNN’s Inside Politics with Manu Raju. “For more than four years, we documented his work, private conversations, and closed-door meetings with world leaders and policymakers as some of the most consequential events of our time unfolded. This project will offer audiences a rare window into the private moments, relationships, and decisions behind the headlines that have shaped the public life of one of America’s most prominent and controversial political figures.”
News broke on July 11 that Graham, the longtime senator representing South Carolina, had died unexpectedly.
“On the evening of Saturday, July 11, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham passed away from a brief and sudden illness,” a rep for the politician wrote in a statement at the time. “Senator Graham’s family appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period.”
Days later, Metropolitan Police Department Chief Jeffery W. Carroll and the District of Columbia Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Francisco J. Diaz confirmed to Us that Graham died “of aortic dissection due to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease” after a July 12 autopsy.
“Whenever an autopsy is performed in the District of Columbia, the pathologist also orders comprehensive toxicology testing and microcopy both of which take time to complete,” the statement continued. “As soon as the results are available and the investigation concludes, OCME will communicate with the next of kin and the death certificate will be amended from pending to the cause of death and the classification of the manner of death.”
Graham, at one-time a fierce adversary of President Trump, became a staunch MAGA supporter prior to his death, living up to his “war hawk” reputation by advocating for various overseas conflicts including the war in Gaza and war in Iran.
While speaking about the late senator’s life and legacy, President Trump claimed he was one of the last if not the last person to speak to Graham before his shocking death, claiming the senator told him he was tired.
“So, what makes it even stranger is I got a call last night something in the early evening — maybe in the sevens — and he called and said, ‘We’re all set for the Save America Act,’ the president said while calling into the July 12 episode of NBC’s Meet the Press. (Trump was referring to his controversial voting bill that many experts have argued will actually make it more difficult for U.S. citizens to vote.)
”He was pushing the Save America Act like crazy,” the president continued. “He got back, said he just landed from Ukraine, I said, ‘That’s a long trip.’ He sounded a little tired, but perfect, but a little bit tired — he had the right to be, he was a worker. He was really a worker. But he sounded great, actually. But he actually said he was tired.”
While Graham was proud of his efforts advocating for war in Iran, Trump and his administration are facing increased scrutiny over the unpopular decision to start the overseas conflict — according to a July Washington Post-ISOS poll, 68 percent of Americans say the war in Iran is not worth fighting.
