“There was no war he didn’t like”: Trump pays tribute to US Senator Lindsey Graham at memorial service in Washington

A good two weeks after the death of US Senator Lindsey Graham, President Donald Trump has the Republican recognized as a respected statesman. Trump said on Tuesday at the funeral mass at the National Cathedral in Washington that Graham had risen from humble beginnings to global recognition.

The commemoration was attended by, among others, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Graham was considered a big supporter of Israel and Ukraine.

“For more than 30 years, nothing of importance has happened in this capital without Lindsey Graham knowing about it,” Trump told thousands of mourners. “Nothing of importance has happened anywhere in the world without Lindsey Graham having an opinion about it.”

Trump called Republican Graham “a friend that none of us will ever forget.” In his humorous eulogy, Trump also alluded to tensions in his relationship with the top senator, who was nine years his junior. When Graham criticized him during the 2016 presidential campaign, he mentioned his private cell phone number in a speech, Trump said. “His phone literally exploded.”said the president to the laughter of some mourners.

Graham also loved wars, Trump said, alluding to the senator’s hard line towards Russia and Iran. “He was extremely warmongering. There was no war that he didn’t like”said the president, who repeatedly brings himself into discussion as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Graham is said to have caused fun in the Senate

At a previous memorial ceremony at the Capitol, US Vice President JD Vance praised Graham as an affable, passionate and popular senator. The Republican has a say in the Senate his crude jokes can make those present laugh to the point of giving them stomach cramps.

Graham enjoyed challenging political opponents in debates during his more than 30 years in Congress, Vance said. The Republican from the state of South Carolina is “not everything fell into your lap”and that’s why he was “fascinated by every single person.”

US Senator John Thune also highlighted Graham’s special sense of humor at the funeral mass: “There was no one, really no one, who took their job more seriously than Lindsey Graham, but there was also no one who who was better at making an entire room laugh during the work week here in Washington.“

Lindsey Graham died after heart disease

Graham’s remains had previously arrived at the Capitol. Army personnel carried the casket covered with a U.S. flag into the Rotunda of the Congressional Building during a Military band played pieces like “Amazing Grace”.

Parliamentarians from the Republicans and the opposition Democrats took part in the ceremony. Graham’s coffin was then placed in the cathedral at the funeral mass. He will be buried on Wednesday in his home state of South Carolina.

The senator was surprisingly 71 on July 11th died as a result of heart disease. Shortly before his death, he visited Ukraine and initiated stricter sanctions against Russia. Graham was first elected to the US House of Representatives in 1994. He entered the Senate in 2002 and has since been re-elected three times. Most recently he was chairman of the budget committee.

Merz saw Graham as a “true friend”

Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) called Graham a “true friend” after his death “Partner of Germany” in NATO appreciated. Netanyahu called Graham a “great friend of Israel” and a fighter against anti-Semitism.

Just a day before his death, Graham met with Zelensky in Kyiv – it was his tenth visit to Ukraine since the Russian invasion in 2022. Following the funeral mass, the Ukrainian president wanted to promote the Russia sanctions negotiated by Graham to parliamentarians in Washington.