US Senator Lindsey Graham dies
· DWThe South Carolina politician and staunch ally of Donald Trump died aged 71 after a brief and sudden illness, his office said. The hawkish senator backed the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the more recent war with Iran.
US Senator Lindsey Graham passed away on Saturday evening after a "brief and sudden illness," his office announced in a statement on X.
The veteran Republican lawmaker from South Carolina was 71 years old. He never married and did not have any children.
Graham had just returned from a trip to Ukraine before he died. The cause of death has not been revealed.
Graham's death creates more uncertainty for the Republican majority in the US Senate, as another Republican Senator, Mitch McConnell is absent amid health rumors.
Who was Lindsey Graham?
Early in his career, Graham was a lawyer for the US Air Force, according to his website. He was stationed at the Rhein-Main Air Force Base in Germany between 1984 and 1988.
During the Gulf War, as a Staff Judge Advocate, he prepared service members for deployment.
He was elected to the US House of Representatives from South Carolina's third congressional district in 1994.
In 2002, Graham was elected to the US Senate and re-elected in 2008, 2014 and 2020.
A key ally of Israel and Ukraine in the Senate
In his early career, Graham was a staunch supporter of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 during the presidency of George W. Bush.
Later on, Graham expressed opposition to then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in 2015, calling Trump a "race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot."
Graham later U-turned and became one of Trump's closest allies in the Senate when Trump became president in his first term from 2017 to 2021.
Graham is one of the most ardent backers of Israel in the Senate and is also an ally of Ukraine. He also pushed for the current US military operations against Iran.
How has the world reacted to Graham's death?
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Donald Trump hailed Graham as "one of the greatest people and senators I have ever known" and a "true American patriot."
"Lindsey will be greatly missed!!!" Trump added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, "Israel has lost one of its greatest friends. America has lost a great patriot. I have lost a beloved friend."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Graham "visited Ukraine ten times during the years of Russia's full-scale invasion and was here with our people when it was most needed. We remained in constant dialogue, and I will miss our conversations. We met twice in just the past week."
Characterizing Graham as a "true defender of freedom and the values that make our world safer," Zelenskyy said: "America and the world have lost a determiend leader."
Graham also supported NATO, at a time when some in his Republican Party have been growing more isolationist and skeptical of the transatlantic defense bloc.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb, in his condolence message, called Graham "a personal friend. A supporter of NATO and Ukraine. A friend of Finland."
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Graham "fought until the very end to support Ukraine's fight for freedom and raise the cost of Russia's war of aggression," calling him "a determined and fearless leader."
Former Conservative British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called Graham "a great American patriot and friend of the United Kingdom" who "was a redoubtable defender of Western values."
The exiled son of Iran's former Shah, Reza Pahlavi, said of Graham: "When friends were seldom found, he stood alongside the people of Iran in their struggle against tyranny."
Graham was also an advocate for the Kurdish people, particularly in their fight against the "Islamic State."
Masrour Barzani, the prime minister of the Kurdistan region of Iraq, said "the people of Kurdistan will always remember his friendship and steadfast support."
Edited by: Karl Sexton
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