According to an Axios report, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) was feeling unwell before his scheduled appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday morning.

The report said Graham was working on a Russia sanctions bill and normalizing relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel in the weeks before his death.

Graham spoke to President Trump over the phone on Saturday to brief the president on his trip to Ukraine and the Russia sanctions bill he wanted the Senate to vote on.

According to the outlet, someone who spoke to Graham afterward said the senator complained of feeling unwell.

Graham was advised to seek medical attention, and he reportedly planned on doing so after his television appearance.

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Graham joked: “I can’t die now. I still need to do the Russia sanctions, get Iran sorted out and do Israeli-Saudi normalization,” according to Axios.

Axios shared further info:

Graham told me in recent weeks he had discussed the initiative with Trump, as well as U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, and that they had agreed to pursue it in a coordinated way.

Graham also said he had spoken with Netanyahu confidant Ron Dermer, Saudi Ambassador to Washington Princess Reema bint Bandar and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan.

He had been planning a trip to Saudi Arabia and Israel in the coming weeks to assess the appetite for reopening talks.

Graham told me that, should there be an opening, he wanted intensive work to begin in September so the pieces of a deal could be in place by November.

Graham believed the effort faced two intertwined political challenges — securing enough votes in Congress and producing an Israeli government willing to meet Saudi Arabia’s conditions.

A central element of the proposed agreement was a U.S.-Saudi defense treaty whose text had largely been negotiated during the Biden administration.

Such a treaty would require support from two-thirds of the Senate. Given the political climate in Washington, Graham believed the lame-duck session after the November midterms offered the only realistic window for ratification.

Winning enough Democratic votes would require the deal to include meaningful progress on the Palestinian issue — including an Israeli commitment to a future Palestinian state and concrete steps toward that goal.

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“I am shocked & deeply saddened by Lindsey Graham’s passing. I will forever remember our last lengthy conversation this weekend, when he exulted at reaching an agreement on our Russian sanctions bill & said, ‘this is a big effing deal—we all did good,'” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said.

“When we last spoke, he was as enthusiastic & exuberant as I’ve ever seen him. Passing the sanctions bill right away would be a fitting tribute,” Blumenthal continued.

“I traveled with Lindsey extensively to Ukraine & the Middle East. We talked at all hours of the day or night, & traveled through all kinds of weather, meeting dictators & democracy defenders. He was tireless in pursuing freedom for Ukraine & brought to this cause his signature relentless energy & optimism,” Blumenthal said.

More from the New York Post:

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said Sunday that he would put forward a Russia sanctions bill in the House of Representatives, while Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) suggested the package could be on Trump’s desk this week.

“I think, in his honor, that we owe it to Lindsey Graham to pass that tough Russian sanctions bill,” McCaul told ABC News’ “This Week.” “He would love nothing more than that.”

Graham, who was heavily favored to win re-election to a fifth Senate term in November, reportedly was also planning trips to Israel and Saudi Arabia to push for full normalization between the two Middle East powers before the new Congress is sworn in next year.

Saudi Arabia has long vowed it will not normalize relations with Israel until an independent Palestinian state is created, though the two governments have grown closer in the face of the threat from Iran.

Preliminary findings released by the DC medical examiner’s office indicated Graham died from “Aortic Dissection due to Arteriosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease.”

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The condition refers to a tear in the body’s main artery and mostly affects older men, according to the Mayo Clinic. Actors John Ritter and Alan Thicke also lost their lives due to aortic dissection.

 

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