{"success":true,"data":{"id":"70b4f1c4-9101-477d-9a85-7c183e7bbec2","title":"Senator Lindsey Graham, Trump critic-turned-supporter, dies at 71","summary":"Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent Notifications can be managed in browser preferences. Not now Yes please US Edition Change Support Now × \"Clear search box\") Custom Search Sort by Relevance Date NewsNews World CupWorld Cup SportsSports CultureCulture LifestyleLifestyle MoneyMon...","content":"## Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent\n\nNotifications can be managed in browser preferences.\n\nNot now Yes please\n\nUS Edition Change\n\nSupport Now\n\n[×](javascript:void(0) \"Clear search box\")\n\nCustom Search\n\nSort by\n\nRelevance\n\nDate\n\n*   News[News](https://www.independent.co.uk/us)\n\n*   World Cup[World Cup](https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup)\n\n*   Sports[Sports](https://www.independent.co.uk/sport)\n\n*   Culture[Culture](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment)\n\n*   Lifestyle[Lifestyle](https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style)\n\n*   Money[Money](https://www.independent.co.uk/us/money)\n\n*   Travel[Travel](https://www.independent.co.uk/us/travel)\n\n*   Premium[Premium](https://www.independent.co.uk/independentpremium)\n\nMore\n\nMore\n\n### Thank you for registering\n\nPlease refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in Please refresh your browser to be logged in\n\n# Senator Lindsey Graham, Trump critic-turned-supporter, dies at 71\n\n## Republican lawmaker was vocal supporter of war against Iran\n\n[Eric Garcia](https://www.independent.co.uk/author/eric-garcia)Sunday 12 July 2026 10:00 BST\n\n*   Copy link  \n*   Bookmark  \n*   [38 Comments](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/us-senator-lindsey-graham-donald-trump-death-b3013384.html#comments-area)Go to comments  \n\n## Bookmark popover\n\nRemoved from bookmarks\n\nClose popover\n\nPowered By\n\n10 Sec\n\n12.9K\n\n00\n\nLindsey Graham snaps at news anchor over Donald Trump’s 'plan' for Iran\n\nNext video in\n\nNext\n\nKEEP WATCHING\n\nRelated: Lindsey Graham snaps at news anchor over Donald Trump’s 'plan' for Iran\n\n### Your support helps us to tell the story\n\nFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.\n\nAt such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.\n\nThe Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.\n\n**Your support makes all the difference.**\n\nSenator Lindsey ⁠Graham of South Carolina died on Saturday evening after ⁠a ​brief and ⁠sudden illness, ​his ⁠office said ‌in an X post early on Sunday. He was 71.\n\nA Senator since 2003, Graham was a vocal advocate for a muscular and hawkish foreign policy.\n\nHe also went from being an [outspoken critic of Donald Trump](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/donald-trump-reads-out-rival-lindsey-graham-s-mobile-number-at-rally-supporters-instantly-jam-his-phone-line-10406600.html) to one of his most prominent supporters, [particularly pushing the president to launch war against Iran](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/iran-war-lindsey-graham-weapons-trump-b2970473.html).\n\n“Senator Graham’s family appreciates prayers at this time and asks ‌for privacy ​during ‌this incredibly ⁠difficult period,\" his ⁠office said.\n\nTrump took to Truth Social to pay tribute. “Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known, is dead!” he said.\n\nUndo\n\nUndo\n\n[](https://promopage.net/bbd95519-b28b-45c8-ae05-92fc5b5bbaf2)[Doctors Beg: Rub This 1 Mineral On Your Foot For Edema Relief Morning Vitality | [Sponsored](https://popup.taboola.com/en/?template=colorbox&utm_source=eslmedia-theindependent&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=alternating-thumbnails-stream-1x4:Mid%20Article%20Thumbnails%20II:)[Sponsored](https://popup.taboola.com/en/?template=colorbox&utm_source=eslmedia-theindependent&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=alternating-thumbnails-stream-1x4:Mid%20Article%20Thumbnails%20II:)](https://promopage.net/bbd95519-b28b-45c8-ae05-92fc5b5bbaf2 \"Doctors Beg: Rub This 1 Mineral On Your Foot For Edema Relief\")\n\nUndo\n\n[](https://whatsnewfurniture.com/pages/sofa-buying-guide)[The 5-Point Checklist Every Sofa Buyer Needs What's New Furniture | [Sponsored](https://popup.taboola.com/en/?template=colorbox&utm_source=eslmedia-theindependent&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=alternating-thumbnails-stream-1x4:Mid%20Article%20Thumbnails%20II:)[Sponsored](https://popup.taboola.com/en/?template=colorbox&utm_source=eslmedia-theindependent&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=alternating-thumbnails-stream-1x4:Mid%20Article%20Thumbnails%20II:)](https://whatsnewfurniture.com/pages/sofa-buying-guide \"The 5-Point Checklist Every Sofa Buyer Needs\")\n\nUndo\n\n“He was always working, and was a true American Patriot. Lindsey will be greatly missed!!!”\n\nThe death comes as Senate Republicans face an additional crisis. Senator Mitch McConnell has been hospitalised since last month and there [have been few updates about his health since](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/mitch-mcconnell-health-kentucky-governor-andy-beshear-b3011521.html).\n\nAt the time of his death, Graham was running for a 5th term as Senator from the Palmetto state against Democrat Annie Andrews. Term-limited Republican Governor of South Carolina, Henry McMaster, will now likely need to find a replacement for Graham.\n\nopen image in gallery\n\nLindsey Graham went from being an outspoken critic of Donald Trump to one of his biggest boosters(AP)\n\nLindsey Olin Graham was born on July 9, 1955 to parents who ran a pool hall and restaurant. Graham’s father Florence James Graham died when he was 21 and his mother Millie died shortly thereafter. He became the guardian to his sister Millie, and used [Social Security survivor benefits to put her through school](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2005/04/02/graham-fills-social-security-void-with-a-plan-bound-to-irk-all-sides/1370dea5-b58a-4d15-bcf1-ea13628300ae/).\n\nGraham graduated from the University of South Carolina for both his undergraduate and law degrees, he served in the US Air Force as an active-duty lawyer before joining the Air Force Reserves.\n\nHe was elected to the state legislature in 1992 before winning a seat in the US Congress’s House of Representatives during the 1994 “Republican revolution” when the Republicans took control of the lower chamber for the first time in more than 40 years.\n\nLindsey Graham, like his political mentor Senator John McCain, left, was a steadfast supporter of Israel and its prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu(GPO/Getty)\n\nIn the House, Graham would serve as an impeachment manager in the Senate trial against Bill Clinton. Despite this, when he came to the Senate in 2003, he worked occasionally with the former president’s wife, Senator Hillary Clinton of New York.\n\nA believer in a muscular foreign policy, Graham vocally supported the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.\n\nAs a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he built friendships with Senator Joe Biden, who would later serve as vice president and president, and Senator John McCain of Arizona.\n\nGraham vocally supported McCain’s 2008 campaign for president and McCain would return the favor during Graham’s ill-fated candidacy eight years later.\n\nThe two of them crafted a bipartisan immigration reform deal with future Democratic Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer and then Republican Florida Senator Marco Rubio, whom Graham ran against in 2016 for the Republican nomination for president and who would become Trump’s secretary of state during his second term.\n\nGraham even crossed the aisle to vote for Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominees Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, who serve on the court to this day.\n\nIt would be during Trump’s presidency that Graham would morph from a largely congenial dealmaker to a hardline partisan.\n\nInitially, Graham criticized Trump, calling him a “jackass”, to which the latter responded by publicizing the Senator’s private phone number. But Graham would warm up to Trump, occasionally golfing with him.\n\nDuring the Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Brett Kavanaugh, Graham delivered a fiery speech where he excoriated Democrats amid sexual assault allegations against the judge, which Kavanaugh vehemently denied.\n\nKavanaugh would be confirmed to the court. Later, as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Graham would facilitate the Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Amy Coney Barrett.\n\nDuring Trump’s first impeachment, Graham regularly criticized Hunter Biden, the son of Biden who was then running for president. Biden’s wife Jill [would later say the two were no longer friends](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/joe-biden-jill-lindsey-graham-friends-trump-impeachment-news-a9315216.html).\n\nLindsey Graham with Ukrainian leader Volodomyr Zelensky(Ukrainian Presidential Press Service)\n\nAfter the January 6 riot at the Capitol, Graham criticized Trump for his actions.\n\n“Trump and I, we had a hell of a journey. I hate it being this way. I hate it being this way,” he said. “All I can say is count me out. Enough is enough.”\n\nBut Graham would vote to acquit Trump. And when the president ran for the White House again, he was one of the first lawmakers to endorse his re-election bid.\n\nWhen Trump returned to the White House, Graham, as chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, helped write legislation that would become Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill” that beefed up spending for the military and immigration enforcement while making permanent the tax cuts he had signed in 2017 and tightening requirements for nutritional assistance and Medicaid.","source_name":"The Independent","source_url":"https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/us-senator-lindsey-graham-donald-trump-death-b3013384.html","url":"https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/us-senator-lindsey-graham-donald-trump-death-b3013384.html","author":"Eric Garcia","author_name":"Eric Garcia","published_at":"2026-07-12T09:00:03.000Z","publication_date":"2026-07-12T09:00:03.000Z","image_url":"https://static.independent.co.uk/2026/07/12/09/download..","category":"politics","topic":"politics","tags":[],"political_bias":null,"bias_score":null,"confidence_score":null,"credibility_score":null,"factual_quality":null,"reading_time":7,"word_count":1215,"view_count":0,"breaking":false,"breaking_news":false,"ai_analysis":null,"fact_check_status":"unverified","archive_status":"hot"}}