Sen. Lindsey Graham was eulogized by President Trump as a "true American original" and "beloved friend"at his funeral at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., attended by many members of Congress, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The four-term Republican senator from South Carolina was known for his friendship with the president and for his hawkishness on foreign policy.
Graham died on July 11 , suffering an aortic dissection as a result of heart disease. Fox News host Sean Hannity called it an "honor" to be eulogizing Graham, but said he wished the late senator were with him. Noting the presence of Mr.
Trump, Vice President JD Vance and members of the president's Cabinet, Hannity said Graham would be "proud" to have them in attendance. "We are here to say goodbye to a true original," Hannity said. "There was nobody like Lindsey Graham.
Nobody." Hannity said while he and Graham disagreed on many issues, they had similar backgrounds that helped shape them and teach them valuable lessons. The Fox News host said Graham set records on Fox News for his colorful on-air language and self-promotion, always directing viewers to his website. "Lindsey was a man driven by principle.
God. Family. Country," Hannity said, adding that he and the late senator "laughed often," including about some of those in attendance at his funeral service.
The Fox News host highlighted Graham's foreign-policy work, and for his advocacy of Israel, in particular, and said it was the late senator's "dream" to have peace. https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/lindsey-graham-funeral-trump-washington-dc/#post-update-4cb31330 link copied The president recalled a moment from the 2016 presidential primaries, when he shared Graham's personal cellphone number after Graham had said something he didn't like. "So naturally, I did something that I shouldn't have done," Mr.
Trump said. "I shared his personal cell phone number with the millions of people that happened to be watching that particular day as I made a speech, a very important speech. And I remember the number — 202-228-0292, if anybody wants to give it a shot.
His phone exploded." "He said, 'I had that number for 20 years.' His phone totally — I don't know what he did with it. But it exploded. That was the beginning of friendship in a way.
But it was Lindsey who had the last laugh, because while I blew up his phone for one day, we became great friends and Lindsey did not stop calling me for the next 10 years." The president also reminisced about their many golf games together, admitting that at least one time, Graham beat him. Mr. Trump said Graham carried his father's putter and mother's ring, and had them at his bedside the night he died.
https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/lindsey-graham-funeral-trump-washington-dc/#post-update-c9a0f635 link copied The president recalled competing against Graham in the 2016 Republican presidential primary, saying they "did not exactly get off to the best of starts," Mr. Trump said. The president called Graham "unwavering" in his principles, but always willing to listen.
Graham, the president said, "never quit." "From that pool hall where his parents raised him to the halls of the United States Senate where he was respected and loved, this son of South Carolina became one of the most important men in the most important country on earth," the president said. "In a country where politicians often become jaded and cynical, Lindsey Graham never lost the old-fashioned American idealism that brought him to the highest levels of government and life. The president said the nation needs more people like Graham.
https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/lindsey-graham-funeral-trump-washington-dc/#post-update-91a0cefd link copied President Trump said his friend "never saw a war that he didn't like." "Above all, Lindsey Graham believed in a strong America," Mr. Trump said. "He wanted a strong America.
He had unwavering faith in the righteousness of American power and prayer. And he was extremely hawkish. I will tell you, he never saw a war that he didn't like … but he wanted it for the good of our country." "He felt in his bones that our destiny is to win, and that his job was to do everything he could to ensure our enemies would lose," Mr.
Trump added. https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/lindsey-graham-funeral-trump-washington-dc/#post-update-7e7445d5 link copied Mr. Trump detailed Graham's upbringing, recalling his parents' work at their bar in his hometown of Central, South Carolina, and said the late senator was "the first person to make you laugh and one of the last people you wanted to fight." The president said Graham learned about diplomacy early in life working in his parents' restaurant and pool hall.
He highlighted his close relationship with his sister, Darline. Graham became Darline's legal guardian after the death of their parents when he was in his 20s and she was still a teen. "His single proudest accomplishment in life was how well Darline turned out," the president said, adding that "nothing can be more fitting than that woman, who is Lindsey's proudest legacy," serving out her brother's term in the Senate.
The president called Graham a "tough cookie," and touted his accomplishments in Congress, including his defense of Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his Supreme Court confirmation hearing. https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/lindsey-graham-funeral-trump-washington-dc/#post-update-6aac92df link copied President Trump praised Graham as "a beloved friend, a devoted brother, a respected statesman, a giant of the United States Senate, a true American original who left us much too soon." Mr. Trump said Graham had risen from a rural town in South Carolina to become a "force to be reckoned with all over the world." "For more than 30 years, nothing of consequence happened in this capital without Lindsey Graham knowing about it," he said.
"Nothing of significance happened anywhere in the world without Lindsey Graham having a view on it." "He was a man who gave America the full measure of his good and mighty heart until that heart itself just gave out," he said. "There was truly nobody like Lindsey Graham," the president said. https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/lindsey-graham-funeral-trump-washington-dc/#post-update-185c6798 link copied The Air Force is taking steps to rename Joint Base Charleston after Graham, a defense official confirmed.
The Post and Courier first reported the renaming of the base in honor of the late senator. The official confirmed that Air Force Secretary Troy Meink issued a memo this month directing the Air Force to begin the process of changing the base's name. Before he was elected to Congress, Graham served more than six years on active duty as a lawyer in the Air Force.
After serving in the South Carolina Air National Guard for several years, he joined the Air Force Reserves, serving from 1995 to 2015 and retiring as a colonel. https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/lindsey-graham-funeral-trump-washington-dc/#post-update-1573d423 link copied President Trump walked into the Washington National Cathedral for the funeral shortly before 2 p.m., greeting Vice President JD Vance and taking a seat in the front of the cathedral. https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/lindsey-graham-funeral-trump-washington-dc/#post-update-8b637bca link copied Vice President JD Vance, in remarks at the Capitol ceremony for Graham this morning, fondly remembered Graham as a man who loved the Senate, South Carolina and people "from all walks of life, I think in part because of the way that he grew up, because [of] the fact that he wasn't handed everything." He talked about Graham's political savvy, recalling an argument the two had over Ukraine when Vance was still a senator.
He said he thought he'd lost Graham's support for a rail bill after their "intense argument" but later learned Graham was one of the most vocal supporters of Vance's policy....
