Trump Eulogizes Lindsey Graham at the National Cathedral: 'He Died Doing the Work He Was Born to Do'

Hundreds of mourners filled the Washington National Cathedral on Tuesday for the funeral of Sen. Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican who died unexpectedly on July 11 at the age of 71, and President Donald Trump used a 14-minute eulogy to cast him as one of the defining operators of the modern Senate.

"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. He returned repeatedly to Graham's appetite for the work itself. "He died doing the work he was born to do. He was truly a great politician," Trump said, adding that "for more than 30 years, nothing of consequence happened in this capital without Lindsey Graham knowing about it."

Trump did not skip past the years when the two men were adversaries. Recalling the 2016 primary campaign, in which Graham was among Trump's sharpest Republican critics before becoming one of his closest allies, the president noted dryly that "running against each other, back in 2016, Lindsey said something rather nasty." The line drew laughter in a service that mixed political tribute with the conventions of an Episcopal funeral.

The guest list reflected the unusual reach Graham had built as chairman and ranking member on the Judiciary and Budget committees and as one of the Senate's most persistent hawks. Vice President JD Vance attended, along with former Vice President Mike Pence and Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, whose 2018 confirmation Graham defended in one of the most-replayed moments of his career. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy were both in the cathedral — two leaders whose governments Graham championed in Washington, and both of whom were in the capital that same day for separate White House meetings.

Fox News host Sean Hannity delivered a eulogy, as did Graham's niece, Emillie Boggs Roberts. The Rev. Franklin Graham took part in the service, along with Graham's South Carolina pastor, the Rev. Tim Tate. Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council and Marjorie Dannenfelser of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America also spoke, a lineup that traced the senator's long alliance with the religious right.

Graham's death set off an immediate reordering of South Carolina politics. Gov. Henry McMaster appointed Graham's sister, Darline Graham Nordone, to the seat, making her the state's first female senator, and she has since announced she will run for the remainder of the term with Trump's endorsement. In the Senate, a bipartisan group introduced the "Sanctioning Russia Act" this month, vowing to pass Graham's long-stalled sanctions bill in his honor — a legislative memorial of the kind he spent three decades assembling for other people.