President Donald Trump says he spoke with Sen. Lindsey Graham shortly before emergency services were called to the senator’s home in Washington, D.C., Saturday night. Graham, who had just returned from a congressional visit to Ukraine, died shortly after the call, the president said.
Trump told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Graham was pushing for the SAVE America Act — a controversial bill the president has been primarily focused on passing that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo identification at the polls — during the call.
“He was so intense. He literally called me about the SAVE America Act. He was traveling for many, many hours. That’s a long flight, that’s a long trip, and he calls me about the SAVE America Act. He thought we were going to get it passed. This is a big blow to the SAVE America Act,” Trump told NBC’s Kristen Welker.
Graham traveled to Kyiv this week and spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about support for the country and a new sanctions bill for Russia. Trump said the four-term senator noted that he felt tired after the trip.
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“He sounded a little tired, but perfect, but a little bit tired. He had a right to be,” Trump said. “He was really a worker, but he sounded great, actually.”
Graham, who made a failed White House bid in 2016 and initially railed against Trump, turned out to be a Capitol Hill ally to Trump, who called him “a temperature gauge of the Senate.” Trump ordered all U.S flags to be lowered to half staff through Saturday in honor of Graham.
Like Trump, some Republicans in Congress have called for the Senate to pass the SAVE America Act after Graham’s death. The bill is currently stalled in the Senate because it does not have the 60 votes needed to overcome the filibuster.
“One of the best ways we can honor Lindsey Graham’s legacy would be to take this up and pass it this month,” Utah Sen. Mike Lee said Sunday on Fox News.
When asked about Graham’s legacy, Trump also pointed to Graham’s staunch defense of Brett Kavanaugh during hearings to review his Supreme Court nomination.
“They treated him so unfairly and Lindsey was so angry at the Senate because of it, and he had an emotional moment, and I think that saved Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court ascension,” Trump said.
Graham was outspoken on foreign policy issues and became one of the most stalwart supporters of Israel in the Senate. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told NBC he was “in a state of shock” after Graham’s death.
“I think America has lost a great patriot. Israel has lost one of the great champions of the American-Israeli alliance, and frankly, I’ve lost a beloved friend who I’ve had for many decades,” Netanyahu said on “Meet The Press.”
In his last phone call with the late senator, Netanyahu said Graham “went ballistic” when they discussed Congress phasing out U.S. support for Israel.
“He said, ‘No way you can’t do that,’ because he was so concerned with our security which he believed was your security,” Netanyahu told Fox News in a separate interview Sunday.
Netanyahu also claimed Graham had pushed for Israel to receive more support from the U.S. even going beyond what the prime minister had negotiated.
“He would tell me, ‘No, I’m going to go over your head to the Senate because I think you need more’,” Netanyahu told Fox News.
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