US senator Lindsey Graham dies

Prominent US Senator Lindsey Graham, a key ally of President Donald Trump, died on Saturday aged 71 following a “brief and sudden illness,” his office said.

Graham, known for his foreign policy work, was a staunch supporter of the Iran war and in recent years urged both Trump and the Biden administrations to back Kyiv’s fight against Russia’s invasion.

“On the evening of Saturday, July 11, US Senator Lindsey Graham passed away from a brief and sudden illness,” the Republican senator from South Carolina’s office said in a statement on his official X account.

“Senator Graham’s family appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period.”

Trump paid tribute to the influential senator yesterday, calling him “one of the greatest people” in a post on his Truth Social site.

“Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known, is dead! He was always working, and was a true American Patriot. Lindsey will be greatly missed!!!”

Graham made a failed bid for the presidency in 2016, warning at the time that Republicans should not back Trump because he was a “race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot.”

Their relationship was strained by the January 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection, with Graham saying his Republican colleagues should “count me out, enough is enough” — although he later voted against convicting Trump in his impeachment trial.

Graham reconciled their relationship after Trump returned to office and supported his re-election bid. Graham was also a strong supporter of Israel and a hawkish backer of the Iran war.

Graham was first elected to the US House of Representatives in 1994, before being elected to the Senate in 2002.

He was later re-elected to the Senate in 2008, 2014 and 2020 and most recently served as chairman of the Senate Budget Committee.

South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster described Graham as “irreplaceable”.

“The fiercest of fighters for South Carolina and America — and a loyal and steadfast friend,” McMaster said in a post on X.

Graham served as a military lawyer and attained the rank of air force colonel, an experience that informed his interventionist stance in foreign policy.

In 2002, he voted in favour of military action against Iraq in the wake of the September 11 attacks, and later supported a long-term US presence in Afghanistan.