Lindsey Graham (R-SC) reportedly joked “I can’t die now” after complaining he felt unwell – hours before he died at the age of 71 from a suspected ruptured aorta brought on by chronic heart disease.
Graham’s death was announced in the early hours of Sunday – a little over a day after he toured a secret Ukrainian military drone factory and sat down for talks with the war-torn country’s president Volodymyr Zelensky.
Graham, who was due to appear on Sunday’s episode of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” told someone close to him he was feeling unwell Saturday after returning from his Ukraine trip, Axios reported.
“I can’t die now. I still need to do the Russia sanctions, get Iran sorted out and do Israeli-Saudi normalization,” the Trump ally quipped, according to the source.
Graham spoke with President Trump about his trip to Ukraine and the bipartisan Russian sanctions package the pol was spearheading through Congress with Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT).
Lawmakers had reached an agreement with the White House – and the measures would allow the Trump administration to slap hefty tariffs on nations fueling Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin’s war machine.
Blumenthal said passing the bill would be a “fitting tribute” to the late senator.
“I will forever remember our last lengthy conversation this weekend, when he exulted at reaching an agreement on our Russian sanctions bill & said, ‘this is a big effing deal—we all did good,’” Blumenthal wrote on X Sunday.
“He was tireless in pursuing freedom for Ukraine & brought to this cause his signature relentless energy & optimism,” he said.
“He marched to his own drummer. He could be strong-minded, fiercely driven, & sometimes unpredictable, but also deeply compassionate & sympathetic when he saw suffering & injustice. I was always impressed with his kindness to people we met along the way.”
Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said he would put forward a Russia sanctions bill in the House of Representatives, while Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) suggested the package could be on Trump’s desk this week.
Graham was also pushing for an Israeli-Saudi normalization deal before the swearing in of the new Congress in January 2027.
He was reportedly planning trips to Israel and Saudi Arabia to see if there was any scope for talks.
Graham suggested work for intensive talks could start in September – with a framework for a deal agreed by November, coinciding with the US midterms.
The pol had identified the lame duck period between the two Congresses for potential ratification.
Saudi Arabia has long vowed it will not normalize relations with Israel until an independent Palestinian state is created.
Graham’s team said he died from a “sudden illness” before preliminary findings from the DC medical examiner’s office revealed he died from “Aortic Dissection due to Arteriosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease.”
The condition involves a tear in the body’s main artery; it mostly affects older men, according to the Mayo Clinic.
“The death certificate will be PENDING until all the toxicological and microscopic testing are finalized and at that point the death certificate will be updated to reflect the cause of death and appropriately classify the manner of death,” the medical examiner’s office said in its initial assessment.
President Trump led the tributes to Graham – describing the longtime pol as “one of the greatest people” he had known.
“He was always working, and was a true American Patriot. Lindsey will be greatly missed!!!” Trump posted on Truth Social early Sunday.
But the two didn’t always see eye to eye.
Graham was one of Trump’s sharpest Republican critics during the 2016 presidential campaign and even ran against him for the GOP nomination.
“If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed … and we will deserve it,” Graham warned at the time.
After the 2016 election, however, the two became close political allies, with Graham emerging as an outspoken defender of Trump in the Senate.
Graham stood firmly behind Trump during both of the president’s impeachment trials, voting to acquit him each time.
After Joe Biden won the 2020 election, Graham backed Trump’s efforts to challenge the results in several battleground states but ultimately accepted Biden’s victory after the Electoral College certified the results.
He also campaigned with Trump during the 2024 presidential race and was a key Trump ally on foreign policy and national security.
In recent months, Graham was one of the strongest Republican voices backing Trump’s decision to strike Iran, arguing the military action was necessary to prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon.
“I have a lot of respect for President Trump. He is his own man,” Graham told Axios in February.
“And as with all presidents, he will be held responsible for his decisions on such weighty matters. As to me, history will be very clear as to where I stood, for better or worse.”
