South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham died from a "brief and sudden illness" on July 11, his office said in a statement. He was 71.
In his more than three decades in Washington, Graham played major roles in crafting key pieces of legislation, affecting millions of Americans' lives while also developing a reputation as a stark foreign policy hawk.
President Donald Trump, a friend of Graham's, said he spoke with the South Carolina lawmaker shortly before emergency responders arrived at his home in Washington on Saturday night. Emergency personnel said they were conducting CPR on a man suffering from cardiac arrest, according to public safety radio feeds reviewed by USA TODAY. Graham's cause of death has not been publicly confirmed.
Trump said Graham was “like a member of the family" who knew how to work with members of both political parties and loved serving in the U.S. Senate. Graham had recently returned from meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and had called Trump about the SAVE America Act, a sweeping piece of voting legislation.
A major housing bill will go into effect at midnight on Saturday without Donald Trump’s signature,...
