On Tuesday, Washington gathered to say goodbye to Sen. Lindsey Graham. Speakers included Vice President JD Vance, President Donald Trump, Sean Hannity, and Graham’s niece, Emillie Boggs Roberts.
Vance remembered Graham as a man who could disagree without being disagreeable, recalling how Graham quietly backed a rail bill Vance had supported as a senator even though the issue meant little to him personally. Vance also credited Graham with helping save Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination during the bruising 2018 confirmation fight.
“Today, we gather in the deepest gratitude and profoundest sorrow to honor a beloved friend, a devoted brother, a respected statesman, a giant of the United States Senate, and a true American original who left us much too soon,” Trump said.
Trump traced Graham’s path from a bar and pool hall his parents ran in Central, S.C., to becoming one of the most important men in the most important country on Earth. He recalled how Graham lost his mother to cancer at age 20, then his father fifteen months later. He later became the legal guardian to his teenage sister while he was still in college. “For all his achievements, and he had many, his single proudest accomplishment in life was how well Darline turned out,” Trump said.
The president also described a smaller, quieter detail from Graham’s final night. “Right to the end, Lindsey carried in his golf bag the putter that once belonged to his dad,” Trump said, adding that Graham kept it alongside his mother’s ring. “They were laying right at his bedside the night he died.”
Related: Remembering Lindsey Graham’s Greatest Moment
Trump didn’t skip over how the two men actually became friends. He recalled the bitter 2016 Republican primary, when he read Graham’s personal cellphone number aloud to a crowd of supporters. “His phone exploded,” Trump said. What began as an act of political revenge turned into a decade-long friendship. “While I blew up his phone all for one day, we became great friends, and Lindsey did not stop calling me.”
Trump also praised Graham’s character and accomplishments as a public servant.
“This son of South Carolina became one of the most important men in the most important country on Earth,” Trump said. “In a city 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. He took his duty seriously without taking himself too seriously. He was unwavering in his principles, but always willing to listen, He always wanted to listen. And one thing about Lindsey that we all know, he never quit, you wanted him to quit, you waited for him to quit, but he would never quit.”
“There was truly nobody like Lindsey Graham.”
President Donald Trump gives a eulogy in memory of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham at Washington National Cathedral. pic.twitter.com/IJAXBMclFM
— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) July 28, 2026
Earlier that morning, at a Capitol Rotunda ceremony, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he feels Graham’s absence daily as military pallbearers carried his flag-draped casket, an honor tied to Graham’s 33 years of service in the Air Force and Air Force Reserves.
Fox News host Sean Hannity, who also delivered remarks, called it an honor to eulogize his friend. “There was nobody like Lindsey Graham. Nobody,” Hannity said, noting that Kavanaugh and his wife, Ashley, sat among the mourners.
Graham’s niece, Emillie Boggs Roberts, closed the service and described her uncle as a devoted family man who always answered the phone when his sister called, no matter how packed his schedule.
A second memorial is planned for Wednesday in South Carolina, with a procession at the State House, an F-16 flyover, a service at First Baptist Church of Columbia, and a private burial in Pickens.
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