by WorldTribune Staff, July 13, 2026 Non-AI Real World News
In what may have been his final phone call, South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham on Saturday evening discussed with President Donald Trump getting the SAVE American Act over the finish line.
The president told “Meet the Press” on Sunday that Graham had phoned him early Saturday evening after arriving home from a trip to Ukraine.
“What makes it even stranger is I got a call last night some time in the early evening, maybe in the sevens, and he called, and he said we’re all set for the SAVE America Act,” Trump said. “He was pushing the SAVE America Act like crazy.”
“He said he just landed from Ukraine. That’s a long trip to make. He sounded a little tired, but perfect,” Trump said. “He actually said he was tired, but he wanted to pass the SAVE America Act, and I said, ‘Well, we’ll get it done, Lindsey. I’ll get it done. I’ll see you soon. We might even meet today.’ ”
Trump said he received word of Graham’s death several hours later.
“It couldn’t have been much longer. It could have been his last call. I don’t know exactly, but I got a message at about 1:00 in the morning from one of the people in his office that he had passed away,” Trump said. “I said, I can’t believe it. He was like a member of the family to me. It’s very tough, actually.”
Graham passed away from what the Office of the Medical Examiner of the District of Columbia said in a preliminary finding was Aortic Dissection due to Arteriosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease. He was 71.
Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee is leading the call to honor Graham by passing the SAVE America Act.
“This is something Lindsey Graham spent a lot of time with,” Lee told Maria Bartiromo on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures” program. “One of the best ways we could honor Lindsey Graham’s legacy would be to take this up and pass it this month.”
On Monday, Darline Graham Nordone, the sister of Graham, was appointed to fill her brother’s Senate seat after a push from Trump.
“It’s my honor to ask his little sister, Darlene Graham, to finish his work for him now,” South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said.
“This would be a fabulous tribute to Lindsey, who loved her dearly,” Trump wrote in a post to Truth Social on Monday morning.
Others were in the mix initially, including Lt. Gov. Pam Evette, who Trump endorsed in her failed bid to clinch the GOP nomination for governor, former Rep. Trey Gowdy and former Sen. Jim DeMint, sources told Fox News Digital.
Nordone’s appointment fills the seat through Jan. 3, while voters decide in November who will hold the seat for the next six-year term.
At this point, it’s unclear if Nordone, 62, would consider running for a full six-year term. The special election for the GOP nomination for the seat is set for Aug. 11. Reps. Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman have both indicated they may run.
First elected in 2002, Graham was re-elected four times, serving in the Senate for 23 years.
Graham was seen as the consummate Washington insider, except for a couple of things: He had a relatively low net worth and a memorable fight to save Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Graham ranked among the bottom half of Congress’s big earners with a net worth of nearly $1.5 million, leaving the senator, who had a modest upbringing in South Carolina, ranked at 294th in wealth among the 535 voting members of Congress, according to data from the Quiver Quantitative tracker.
Senators earn a salary of $174,000 a year.
The senator, who never married and had no children, also owned a townhouse near the Capitol that was estimated at $890,000 in value, as well as a home in Seneca, South Carolina.
PJ Media columnist Matt Margolis noted that the fight for Kavanaugh was Graham “at his best.”
“Kavanaugh’s odds of confirmation had been sinking before Graham spoke. Afterward, it looked like he had a chance again, and sure enough, he ended up on the Supreme Court. Graham deserves as much credit as anyone for that outcome,” Margolis noted.
“I remember exactly what it felt like watching that hearing live: Kavanaugh looked cooked, and then, in less than five minutes, Graham changed everything. He stopped Democrats from smearing a good man out of a seat he’d earned.”
Graham’s speech at the Kavanaugh hearings:
