Lindsey Graham was urged to seek immediate medical attention but brushed off the advice with a chilling joke in the moments before his death, according to a report.
The South Carolina senator died Saturday night after what his office called a “brief and sudden illness,” two days after his 71st birthday and just hours after returning from a visit to Ukraine.
Emergency personnel responded to a report of cardiac arrest at Graham’s Capitol Hill home at around 8:30 p.m. Saturday evening, according to police scanner audio obtained by NBC News.
President Donald Trump revealed on Sunday that he had spoken with Graham at around 6:30 p.m. on Saturday and that the senator had said that he was “tired” from his trip. The two discussed Graham’s Russia sanctions bill and Trump’s plans for fresh strikes against Iran, according to Axios.
After hanging up with Trump, Graham spoke with another person, who told Axios that the senator had complained of feeling unwell.
The person urged Graham to get medical help right away, but the senator shrugged off the advice and said he would go on Sunday morning after his scheduled appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press.
“I can’t die now,” he joked, according to Axios. “I still need to do the Russia sanctions, get Iran sorted out, and do Israeli-Saudi normalization.”
Graham’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to police scanner audio obtained by The Washington Post, emergency responders were called to Graham’s home at around 8:30 p.m. for a person suffering chest pains.
Around 25 minutes later CPR was in progress, with the patient said to be suffering from cardiac arrest. A man was photographed being loaded into an ambulance at around 9:30 p.m., before being taken to George Washington University Hospital.
Trump, who theorized his conversation with Graham could have been his last call, said he received a message at around 1 a.m. from someone in Graham’s office informing him that the senator had died.
There was no indication Graham was feeling unwell prior to his sudden death, a top staffer told NBC News early Sunday, and there had been no known concerns over Graham’s health. A cause of death has not been released.
Major MAGA figures were quick to float wild theories about Graham’s death, with right-wing provocateur Laura Loomer pointing to his recent Ukraine trip and push for tougher Russia sanctions.
“Yesterday, Lindsey Graham was in Ukraine... and called for more sanctions against Russia and pledged more US support for Ukraine,” she wrote on X. “One day later, Lindsey Graham is dead. There needs to be an investigation!”
There is no evidence to support MAGA’s claims, and authorities have not indicated foul play. The senator also has a family history of heart disease, with his father dying of a heart attack at the age of 69, when Graham was 22.
