President Donald Trump told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” Sunday that he spoke with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on Saturday night, hours before the senator died.
Trump said that “other than being tired, he was fine,” adding that he believed Graham’s death was a “quick end, and maybe that’s not the worst way to go.”
The late senator was a close ally of Trump’s, and the president described him to “Meet the Press” as someone who was “like a member of the family to me.” The two spoke regularly on the phone and golfed together. Graham had just returned from a trip to Ukraine before his sudden death.
The president said that Graham called him in the early evening to discuss the SAVE America Act, a bill that would reshape how elections operate but does not have enough support to pass the Senate.
“He actually said he was tired, but he wanted to pass the SAVE America Act, and I said, ‘Well, we’re going to get it done, Lindsey. We’re going to get it done. I’ll see you, like, soon,’” Trump told “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker, adding that the two believed they might meet on Sunday.
In a separate interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Trump said that Graham was also “telling me about the trip” in their phone call, noting that the senator “had a great trip.”
Trump remembered the late senator as someone with a “unique ability,” saying that Graham could work out issues with Democrats and that he “loved being a politician.”
“If I had a problem, a real problem, I wouldn’t often ask. But if I had a problem with a Democrat, he could work it out,” Trump said. “He was a great, he was a great politician, actually.”
At the same time, Trump said, the senator could be a “tough cookie.”
“If he wanted to get something, if he thought he was right, and he had people against him, he could be very tough, actually,” Trump said. “But he was a good person.”
Graham had been scheduled to appear on “Meet the Press” on Sunday following his trip to Ukraine. The senator was a prominent foreign policy hawk within the Republican Party.
Graham had pushed for Trump to support Ukraine in the war against Russia, and he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Friday, just a day before he died.
The senator also had urged Trump to take a hard-line approach against Iran, pushing for military intervention while arguing that Iranian leadership was an unreliable negotiating partner.
Though Graham ultimately formed a close alliance with the president, he previously publicly criticized him multiple times.
A decade ago, Graham was a critic of Trump when the then-candidate ran for president for the first time. The senator also briefly ran for president in the 2016 cycle. Ahead of Trump securing the GOP nomination, Graham said that Trump ran “a campaign on xenophobia, race-baiting, religious bigotry — that cannot be Republican conservatism.”
Graham said that he did not vote for Trump or Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016.
The senator also broke with Trump in the hours after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
“Trump and I, we’ve had a hell of a journey,” Graham said in a speech at the time. “I hate it to end this way. Oh my God, I hate it. From my point of view, he’s been a consequential president, but today, first thing you’ll see.”
“All I can say is count me out. Enough is enough,” he said.
Weeks later, he voted to acquit Trump after his impeachment, saying in a statement that “this was an impeachment effort driven by passion and hatred against President Trump.” He went on to support Trump in the 2024 election.
Trump discussed the evolution of their relationship, saying on “Meet the Press” that he got to know Graham during the 2016 campaign. The senator “respected” that Trump won the primary in South Carolina, Trump said.
“We sort of got a little bit friendly, and just the friendship grew,” Trump continued. “It just grew, and he was an amazing advocate. He was — I don’t know how you find anybody like him.”
Graham, who was up for re-election this fall, was endorsed by Trump, who said in the endorsement that Graham was “a wonderful friend to me” and someone who “has always been there when I needed him.”
The senator thanked Trump in his own social media post, touting their personal and professional relationship.
“On a professional level, I am proud to have been there at the beginning when President Trump — through sheer force of will —achieved the greatest political comeback in American history,” Graham said, thanking Trump in March 2025 for his endorsement. “On a personal level, I genuinely enjoy our friendship. He’s an awesome golfing buddy, who I have yet to beat.”
