{"id":4566,"date":"2026-07-12T23:24:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T18:24:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=4566"},"modified":"2026-07-12T23:24:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T18:24:24","slug":"trump-world-leaders-mourn-sen-lindsey-graham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=4566","title":{"rendered":"Trump, world leaders mourn Sen. Lindsey Graham"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/twt-thumbs.washtimes.com\/media\/image\/2026\/07\/12\/Graham_Trump_58828_s1440x959.jpg?38ee4b81f9b4ccf2a99f00d05e55ab87790d4572\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><em>Don\u2019t miss the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2026\/jul\/12\/tributes-flood-sudden-death-sen-lindsey-graham\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">full story<\/a> from our staff writers, whose reportage is the basis of this article.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican and one of President Trump\u2019s closest congressional allies, died Saturday evening at 71 following a \u201cbrief and sudden illness,\u201d his office said in a social media post. His office did not release further details about the cause of death and asked for privacy for the family during \u201cthis incredibly difficult period.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Graham had run against Trump for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination before becoming one of his most trusted advisers, frequently consulting with him on foreign policy issues including Iran and Russia. Just a day before his death, Graham had announced an agreement with the Trump administration to advance a package of Russia sanctions. Trump, in a social media post, called Graham \u201cone of the greatest people and Senators\u201d he had known and said he \u201cwas always working, and was a true American Patriot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Graham chaired the Senate Budget Committee and previously led the Senate Judiciary Committee. Tributes poured in from congressional colleagues across the aisle. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Graham\u2019s military and congressional service \u201ccarried him to far-flung regions of the world,\u201d while Sen. Tim Scott, his fellow South Carolinian, said the state \u201clost a statesman\u201d and he \u201clost a friend.\u201d Even Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, who said he and Graham \u201cdisagreed on plenty over the years,\u201d praised Graham\u2019s commitment to national security. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster called him \u201cirreplaceable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>International reaction was similarly significant. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Graham understood that \u201cthe security of Israel and America are inseparable\u201d and mourned the loss of \u201ca beloved friend.\u201d Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who had met with Graham twice in the past week during the senator\u2019s 10th visit to Ukraine, called him a \u201ctrue defender of freedom.\u201d Not all reaction was favorable, however \u2014 Iranian state television declared that Graham \u201chas been sent to hell,\u201d citing his long history of backing policies to isolate Iran and curb its nuclear program.<\/p>\n<p>Before his alliance with Trump, Graham was best known as part of the \u201cThree Amigos\u201d alongside the late Sens. John McCain and Joe Lieberman, a trio known for championing an assertive, hawkish U.S. foreign policy around the globe.<\/p>\n<p>                        <a name=\"pagebreak\"\/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2026\/jul\/12\/tributes-flood-sudden-death-sen-lindsey-graham\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Read more: Tributes flood in after sudden death of Sen. Lindsey Graham<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<aside>\n<\/aside>\n<div>\n<p style=\"font-size: 18px; color: #3e3e3e;\"><em><br \/>\n                          This article was constructed with the assistance of artificial intelligence and published by a member of The Washington Times&#8217; AI News Desk team. The contents of this report are based solely on The Washington Times&#8217; original reporting, wire services, and\/or other sources cited within the report. For more information, please read our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/ai-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\">AI policy<\/a> or contact Steve Fink, Director of Artificial Intelligence, at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2026\/jul\/12\/trump-world-leaders-mourn-sen-lindsey-graham\/mailto:sfink@washingtontimes.com\">sfink@washingtontimes.com<\/a><br \/>\n                      <\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 18px; color: #3e3e3e;\"><em><br \/>\n                          The Washington Times AI Ethics Newsroom Committee can be reached at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2026\/jul\/12\/trump-world-leaders-mourn-sen-lindsey-graham\/mailto:aispotlight@washingtontimes.com\">aispotlight@washingtontimes.com<\/a>.<br \/>\n                      <\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Don\u2019t miss the full story from our staff writers, whose reportage is the basis of this article. Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican and one of President Trump\u2019s closest congressional allies, died Saturday evening at 71 following a \u201cbrief and sudden illness,\u201d his office said in a social media post. His office did not release&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4567,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/twt-thumbs.washtimes.com\/media\/image\/2026\/07\/12\/Graham_Trump_58828_c0-0-4766-2780_s1200x700.jpg?3ac7b4970a5654cee03c10083c7e7d302259ffdd","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4566\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}