New details emerged Tuesday on Fox News about the final moments of Senator Lindsey Graham, who died last week. Senator Tommy Tuberville said a staffer on his team—who previously served as Graham’s scheduler—was the one who called for medical help after receiving a frantic phone call from him.
1+“He called [and] basically said, ‘Listen, I’m having chest pains. You know, I need to do something,'” Tuberville recounted. When asked if he called 911, Graham replied: “No, that’s the reason I called you.” Following the call, the aide summoned emergency responders, but when they arrived they had to break down the door to treat him.
The official cause of death was determined to be “aortic dissection due to atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.” Sources estimated Graham had felt unwell earlier but wanted to delay medical treatment until after his scheduled appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” out of concern for advancing urgent issues such as sanctions on Russia and regional normalization agreements.
1+Graham’s death shocked the Senate, which had just returned to work after the July 4th recess. His Senate desk, where his close friend John McCain once sat, was draped with a black cloth and topped with a vase of white roses. Senate Majority Leader John Thune eulogized him in tears, saying the “halls of the Senate already feel empty without him.”
Meanwhile, Graham’s sister, Darlene Graham Nordone, was appointed by South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster to fill his seat temporarily, and she is expected to be sworn in tomorrow.