Trump Says the FBI Is “Wasting Their Time” Chasing Conspiracy Theories About Lindsey Graham’s Death
· Thought CatalogBy 
January Nelson and Jerome London
Updated 3 minutes ago, July 14, 2026
Lindsey Graham is dead, and President Donald Trump says the FBI is “wasting their time” chasing the conspiracy theories that erupted around it. “I wish he took better care of himself,” he said of his friend, the longtime South Carolina senator.
Four law enforcement sources told CNN there’s no indication Graham died from anything unnatural, and local police are running the routine review that follows any death. The FBI simply offered its resources if needed.
That hasn’t stopped the theories, which broke into a few distinct lanes online.
The loudest: Russia killed him. Graham was one of Putin’s sharpest critics in the Senate, had just returned from Kyiv pushing a new sanctions bill, and had been placed on a Russian wanted list and labeled a terrorist by Moscow. Posts pointed to the FSB’s history of poisonings (Novichok, polonium) and claimed a substance could have been used to mimic a cardiac event. Far-right activist Laura Loomer flagged the Ukraine trip. GOP Sen. John Cornyn called for a toxicology report to “rule out any foul play.”
A second lane blamed other foreign actors, floating Israel, Iran, or even Ukraine as the culprit based on Graham’s foreign policy record and recent travel. Less detailed, same shape.
A third argued the timeline didn’t work, that Graham couldn’t have gotten from Ukraine back to DC in the window described, and that the circumstances of his death in Washington didn’t add up.
A fourth read the FBI’s presence as the tell. Director Kash Patel posted on X that the bureau was “assisting local authorities and has made every necessary resource available,” and agents were seen entering Graham’s DC home Monday with no explanation. Sources told CNN Patel’s post was only meant to describe the standard process after a lawmaker dies, but online it was taken as confirmation of a cover-up.
Then the fringe: a Covid booster reaction, the Clintons, AI-generated images and clips, and generic “assassination” posts with no named perpetrator.
The people who spoke with Graham in his final hours describe nothing sinister. Sen. Katie Britt said he was “so excited about getting the White House onboard with the Russian sanctions bill.” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who talked to him Friday and Saturday, said he “sounded absolutely fine. In fact, better than fine.”
DC’s medical examiner ruled preliminarily that Graham died of an “aortic dissection due to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease,” a tear in the aorta tied to the clogged arteries Trump said doctors walked him through. “At first I heard it was clogged arteries because he did have clogged arteries,” Trump said. “I wish he took better care of himself.”
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has appointed Graham’s younger sister, Darline Graham, to serve out the rest of his term, which expires early next year. She’s being sworn in at the Capitol Tuesday.
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