The New York Times: Trump, Netanyahu lead tributes to US Senator Lindsey Graham who died suddenly

Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator from South Carolina and a one-time opponent turned stalwart ally of President Donald Trump who was a forceful advocate for an interventionist US foreign policy, died Saturday evening (US time). He was 71.

His office announced the death in a statement early Sunday. Mr Graham had returned earlier Saturday from a trip to Ukraine.

According to recordings of dispatcher calls obtained by The New York Times, emergency workers responded on Saturday night to a call about a person experiencing chest pains at the senator’s Capitol Hill address.

A preliminary report from the Washington DC medical examiner’s office indicated that the cause was an aortic dissection, a tear in the main artery that carries blood from the heart, caused by arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease, a gradual weakening and hardening of the arteries.

A former Air Force lawyer who served in the Air Force Reserve while in Congress and was briefly deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan as a senator, Mr Graham was first elected to the US House of Representatives in 1994, before winning his Senate seat in 2002.

Last month, he fended off five challengers to win the Republican primary in his bid for a fifth term.

Mr Trump offered his condolences on social media early Sunday, calling Mr Graham “one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known.”

“He was always working, and was a true American Patriot,” Mr Trump added.

“Lindsey will be greatly missed!!!”

“I just can’t believe it. He was like a member of the family to me,” Mr Trump told Meet The Press.

“Maybe that’s not the worst way to go,” he said on NBC, referring in reference to Mr Graham’s sudden medical emergency.

Governor Henry McMaster of South Carolina, a Republican, can immediately appoint a temporary replacement to fill Mr Graham’s seat.

Mr Graham was set to face Annie Andrews, a Democrat and a paediatrician, in the general election in November.

Mr Graham’s death comes as another influential Republican senator, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, has spent several weeks in the hospital for undisclosed reasons. It leaves Senate Republicans without a senior lawmaker and reliable vote as they face pressure from Mr Trump to continue advancing his legislative agenda.

Mr Graham, who made a long-shot bid for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination that went to Mr Trump, consistently argued for the use of US military power overseas.

He was a fierce supporter of Israel and Ukraine, making multiple trips to both countries, and he recently supported aggressive military action against Iran.

He was a familiar face for many world diplomats and leaders, several of whom paid tribute to him on Sunday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel called Mr Graham a “beloved friend” in a social media post.

“Lindsey understood that the security of Israel and America are inseparable,” Mr Netanyahu wrote, adding, “Israel has lost one of its greatest friends.”

Mr Graham helped navigate Ukraine’s often strained relations with the Mr Trump administration after Russia’s invasion in 2022 and often visited Kyiv, the capital, despite regular Russian bombardment of the city.

On his recent trip to Ukraine, his final visit overseas, Graham visited a drone factory and met with President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Mr Zelensky wrote on social media on Sunday that he was “deeply saddened” by Mr Graham’s death.

“Lindsey was a true defender of freedom and the values that make our world safer,” Mr Zelensky added.

Lindsey Olin Graham was born in Central, South Carolina, a town in the western part of the state, on July 9, 1955, the elder of two children of Florence James Graham, known as FJ, and Millie (Walters) Graham.

His parents operated a restaurant and bar, then known as the Sanitary Cafe, that Mr Lindsey and his sister, Darline, worked in as they grew up. The family at first lived in a room behind the establishment, eventually moving into a trailer and then into a house next door.

“My home was a bar,” he recalled in his 2015 memoir, “My Story,” adding that he “was loved inside those walls, as much as any child could be loved, by two devoted parents”.

He graduated from high school and went on to become the first member of his family to attend college. In 1976, when he was 20 and his sister was 11, his mother died of Hodgkin lymphoma; 15 months later, his father died of a heart attack.

After their deaths, Mr Graham became his sister’s legal guardian, later adopting her so she could receive his military benefits.

“Lindsey was always my parent,” his sister, Darline Graham Nordone, told the Times in 2015. “There was no doubt in my mind or anyone else’s mind that Lindsey was my guardian.”

Mr Graham never married or had children. His sister is his only immediate survivor.

Asked by the Times in 2019 if he ever worried about being seen as a toady to Mr Trump, Mr Graham said: “No, here’s what I worry about. That we’re going to get it wrong in Syria and Afghanistan. I worry more about the policy stuff. And I have more influence than I’ve ever had.”

Senator John Thune, the majority leader, wrote in a social media post on Sunday morning that Mr Graham “was a strong advocate for the United States and a strong ally to freedom-loving countries across the globe. He believed in the might of America to achieve good in the world.”