Graham’s niece, Emillie Boggs Roberts, says Graham was “without a doubt, a family man”
Emillie Boggs Roberts thanked the audience for being there, saying the outpouring of love has been “deeply healing.”
“I know Lindsey would be so thankful for the kindness that you have shown to his family,” she said.
“Lindsey was without a doubt a family man,” she continued. “His world revolved around my mother, his family, and those he considered such, like his lifelong friends, colleagues, staff, and the citizens of South Carolina.”
She said Graham was a busy man, but no matter what, he picked up when his sister called.
Hannity says Kavanaugh confirmation hearings were Graham at his “absolute best”
Hannity also highlighted Graham’s fierce defense of Kavanaugh during his confirmation process in 2018, when he faced a decades-old accusation of sexual misconduct. Kavanaugh said at the time that he “categorically and unequivocally” denied the allegations. Graham lashed out at Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee over their handling of the accusations, telling them the hearing had devolved into “the most unethical sham since I’ve been in politics.”
Hannity said of the hearing, “The world got to witness my friend, the person that I knew, in action, and they got to see him at his absolute best,” adding that “he unloaded on those that were being unfair and brutal to your family and to you, and I believe it was his finest moment, as the president mentioned, as a U.S. senator.”
Kavanaugh and his wife, Ashley, are in attendance at Graham’s funeral service.
Hannity says “there was nobody like Lindsey Graham”
Fox News host Sean Hannity called it an “honor” to be eulogizing Graham, but said he wished the late senator were with him.
Noting the presence of Mr. Trump, Vice President JD Vance and members of the president’s Cabinet, Hannity said Graham would be “proud” to have them in attendance.
“We are here to say goodbye to a true original,” Hannity said. “There was nobody like Lindsey Graham. Nobody.”
Hannity said while he and Graham disagreed on many issues, they had similar backgrounds that helped shape them and teach them valuable lessons.
The Fox News host said Graham set records on Fox News for his colorful on-air language and self-promotion, always directing viewers to his website.
“Lindsey was a man driven by principle. God. Family. Country,” Hannity said, adding that he and the late senator “laughed often,” including about some of those in attendance at his funeral service.
The Fox News host highlighted Graham’s foreign-policy work, and for his advocacy of Israel, in particular, and said it was the late senator’s “dream” to have peace.
Trump jokes about the time he doxxed Graham
The president recalled a moment from the 2016 presidential primaries, when he shared Graham’s personal cellphone number after Graham had said something he didn’t like.
“So naturally, I did something that I shouldn’t have done,” Mr. Trump said. “I shared his personal cell phone number with the millions of people that happened to be watching that particular day as I made a speech, a very important speech. And I remember the number — 202-228-0292, if anybody wants to give it a shot. His phone exploded.”
“He said, ‘I had that number for 20 years.’ His phone totally — I don’t know what he did with it. But it exploded. That was the beginning of friendship in a way. But it was Lindsey who had the last laugh, because while I blew up his phone for one day, we became great friends and Lindsey did not stop calling me for the next 10 years.”
The president also reminisced about their many golf games together, admitting that at least one time, Graham beat him.
Mr. Trump said Graham carried his father’s putter and mother’s ring, and had them at his bedside the night he died.
Trump says Graham “became one of the most important men in the most important country on earth”
The president recalled competing against Graham in the 2016 Republican presidential primary, saying they “did not exactly get off to the best of starts,” Mr. Trump said.
The president called Graham “unwavering” in his principles, but always willing to listen. Graham, the president said, “never quit.”
“From that pool hall where his parents raised him to the halls of the United States Senate where he was respected and loved, this son of South Carolina became one of the most important men in the most important country on earth,” the president said. “In a country where politicians often become jaded and cynical, Lindsey Graham never lost the old-fashioned American idealism that brought him to the highest levels of government and life.
The president said the nation needs more people like Graham.
Trump talks about Graham’s hawkishness, saying he “never saw a war that he didn’t like”
President Trump said his friend “never saw a war that he didn’t like.”
“Above all, Lindsey Graham believed in a strong America,” Mr. Trump said. “He wanted a strong America. He had unwavering faith in the righteousness of American power and prayer. And he was extremely hawkish. I will tell you, he never saw a war that he didn’t like … but he wanted it for the good of our country.”
“He felt in his bones that our destiny is to win, and that his job was to do everything he could to ensure our enemies would lose,” Mr. Trump added.
Trump highlights Graham’s upbringing in South Carolina and accomplishments in Congress
Mr. Trump detailed Graham’s upbringing, recalling his parents’ work at their bar in his hometown of Central, South Carolina, and said the late senator was “the first person to make you laugh and one of the last people you wanted to fight.”
The president said Graham learned about diplomacy early in life working in his parents’ restaurant and pool hall. He highlighted his close relationship with his sister, Darline. Graham became Darline’s legal guardian after the death of their parents when he was in his 20s and she was still a teen.
“His single proudest accomplishment in life was how well Darline turned out,” the president said, adding that “nothing can be more fitting than that woman, who is Lindsey’s proudest legacy,” serving out her brother’s term in the Senate.
The president called Graham a “tough cookie,” and touted his accomplishments in Congress, including his defense of Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his Supreme Court confirmation hearing.
Trump remembers “a true American original who left us much too soon”
President Trump praised Graham as “a beloved friend, a devoted brother, a respected statesman, a giant of the United States Senate, a true American original who left us much too soon.”
Mr. Trump said Graham had risen from a rural town in South Carolina to become a “force to be reckoned with all over the world.”
“For more than 30 years, nothing of consequence happened in this capital without Lindsey Graham knowing about it,” he said. “Nothing of significance happened anywhere in the world without Lindsey Graham having a view on it.”
“He was a man who gave America the full measure of his good and mighty heart until that heart itself just gave out,” he said.
“There was truly nobody like Lindsey Graham,” the president said.
Air Force taking steps to rename Joint Base Charleston after Graham
The Air Force is taking steps to rename Joint Base Charleston after Graham, a defense official confirmed. The Post and Courier first reported the renaming of the base in honor of the late senator.
The official confirmed that Air Force Secretary Troy Meink issued a memo this month directing the Air Force to begin the process of changing the base’s name.
Before he was elected to Congress, Graham served more than six years on active duty as a lawyer in the Air Force. After serving in the South Carolina Air National Guard for several years, he joined the Air Force Reserves, serving from 1995 to 2015 and retiring as a colonel.
Trump arrives for funeral
President Trump walked into the Washington National Cathedral for the funeral shortly before 2 p.m., greeting Vice President JD Vance and taking a seat in the front of the cathedral.
Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images 
JD Vance remembers Graham as “a man who could disagree with you without being disagreeable”
Vice President JD Vance, in remarks at the Capitol ceremony for Graham this morning, fondly remembered Graham as a man who loved the Senate, South Carolina and people “from all walks of life, I think in part because of the way that he grew up, because [of] the fact that he wasn’t handed everything.”
He talked about Graham’s political savvy, recalling an argument the two had over Ukraine when Vance was still a senator. He said he thought he’d lost Graham’s support for a rail bill after their “intense argument” but later learned Graham was one of the most vocal supporters of Vance’s policy. He asked Graham why he backed it.
“I expected him to do what so many politicians would do. I expected him to lie and say, ‘Well, I really care about rail legislation.’ And he said, ‘Oh, I don’t care about that at all.’
“I said, ‘Why are you helping me?’ And he said, ‘Well, I don’t care about it, but you do.'”
Vance also credited Graham with saving Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination during his contentious confirmation hearings, when Kavanaugh faced a last-minute accusation of sexual assault from decades earlier: “What he saw happening to Kavanaugh was not a policy disagreement; it was character assassination. And Lindsey got as fiery and as passionate as I have ever seen a human being get during a judicial confirmation, and I believe that he saved that nomination.”
Netanyahu and Zelenskyy speak ahead of funeral
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy were spotted speaking ahead of the funeral. Both leaders had separate meetings with President Trump earlier in the day.
Zelenskyy said his meeting with the president was “good.” The White House has not yet released a readout of either meeting.
Cameras were too far away to tell what Zelenskyy and Netanyahu said. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin was also huddled with Zelenskyy and Netanyahu.
After that exchange, Netanyahu was spotted speaking with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Here’s who’s speaking at Graham’s funeral service
The speakers at Sen. Lindsey Graham’s funeral service include President Trump, who will give one of the eulogies.
Despite occasional political disagreements, Mr. Trump has called Graham “a great friend” and “one of the greatest people and senators I have ever known.”
Fox News’ Sean Hannity is also slated to give a eulogy, as is Graham’s niece, Emillie Boggs Roberts.
Clergy members taking part in the service include:
- The Very Reverend Randolph Marshall Hollerith — Dean, Washington National Cathedral
- The Reverend Canon Jan Naylor Cope — Provost, Washington National Cathedral
- The Reverend Canon Rosemarie Logan Duncan — Canon Precentor, Washington National Cathedral
- The Reverend Tim Tate — Senior Pastor at Corinth Baptist Church, in Seneca, South Carolina
- The Reverend Dr. Barry C. Black — U.S. Senate Chaplain
Trump says in interview before funeral that Graham “became like a member of the family”
In an interview with Fox News Tuesday morning with “Fox and Friends,” President Trump said that though his relationship with Graham was at first a “little bit rough” — they were both vying for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination — they grew “closer and closer.”
The president said that “it really ended up being a great friendship,” and Graham “really became like a member of the family, in a sense.”
The president also maintained that Graham, despite his hawkishness on Iran, “over the last few weeks, I would say that he became like, ‘It’s better making a deal in this case than just destroying the rest of the country.'”
Graham honored at Capitol ceremony before funeral
At a ceremony in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda Tuesday morning, Graham was remembered by fellow lawmakers as a “towering figure” in the Senate.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota said of Graham, “I feel his absence every day,” and he noted that “senators on both sides of the aisle counted on him as a friend.”
Nathan Howard-Pool / Getty Images 
At the Capitol, Graham’s flag-draped casket was carried by U.S. Armed Forces pallbearers to honor his Air Force service, and a U.S. Capitol Police memorial guard stood watch as colleagues and loved ones paid their respects.
Another service for Graham to be held in South Carolina Wednesday
Tuesday’s remembrances of Graham will be followed by services in South Carolina on Wednesday morning, beginning with a procession at the South Carolina State House around 10:45 a.m.
During the funeral procession, Graham’s remains will be carried by members of the South Carolina State Guard, with a presentation of law enforcement and an F-16 flyover. The procession will conclude at the First Baptist Church of Columbia, where a funeral service will be held, followed by a private family burial in Pickens, South Carolina.
