Trump bids farewell to ‘tough cookie’ Lindsey Graham — and recalls doing ‘something that I shouldn’t have done’ to him

President Donald Trump on Tuesday fondly remembered the late South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham as a rival-turned-friend who excelled at the highest levels of American politics in his decades representing the Palmetto State, even if their close relationship had gotten off to a rocky start.Speaking at Washington’s National Cathedral at a funeral service attended by many of Graham’s family members, his Senate colleagues past and present as well as world leaders including Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump hailed Graham as a “respected statesman, a giant of the United States Senate and a true American original” who’d been “the first person to make you laugh and one of the last people that you really ever wanted to fight.”

“For more than 30 years, nothing of consequence happened in this capital without Lindsey Graham knowing about it. Nothing of significance happened anywhere in the world without Lindsey Graham having a view on it, and no bill became law in the most exceptional republic in human history without Lindsey Graham having a say in it,” Trump said.He added that Graham, who died of an aortic dissection on July 11, had been “a man who gave America the full measure of his good and mighty heart, until that heart itself just gave out.”

open image in galleryTrump eulogized Graham after meeting with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky earlier in the day (Getty)The president’s remarks, delivered to an audience that included most of his cabinet and top White House officials as well as a who’s who of Washington spanning Graham’s decades in public office, kicked off the program of speakers that also incouded Fox News’ Sean Hannity and Graham’s niece. Standing on the pulpit where some day he may be eulogized by other American leaders, Trump recalled Graham’s humble beginnings as the son of a South Carolina bar owner who used his perch in the Senate to direct federal resources back home while taking an active role in promoting a muscular foreign policy abroad, calling him “extremely hawkish” and wryly observing how Graham had “never saw a war that he didn't like.”Trump also credited Graham with making friends on both sides of the aisle along the way while remaining a “tough cookie” who was always “ready with a joke and a gleam in his eye” even in the most uncomfortable situations.

As an example, the president took mourners back to the beginnings of his and Graham’s relationship a decade ago when they were just two of 16 candidates vying for the Republican Party’s nomination in what looked to be a losing contest against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.“As you remember, Lindsey and I did not exactly get off to the best of starts,” he said. At the time, Graham savaged the political newcomer as “racist” while warning how the GOP would be “destroyed” if the New York television star and real estate mogul became the party standard-bearer.

He also lashed out at Trump as “unfit for office” after Trump denigrated the military service of his then-close friend, Arizona Senator John McCain.In response, Trump read Graham’s phone number out on live television and encouraged his supporters to contact his rival.open image in galleryA military body bearer team carries Lindsey Graham’s casket out at the conclusion of the National cathedral after his funeral service Tuesday.

(Getty)open image in galleryPresident Trump and Vice President JD Vance joined most White House officials in attending the funeral. (AFP/Getty)Recalling the incident, Trump told mourners he’d done “something that I shouldn't have done.”“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,” he said — before repeating the phone number (which The Independent found to now be inactive).

“His phone totally — I don't know what he did with it — but it exploded.”Graham appeared to take the incident in stride, later appearing in viral videos for the conservative site Independent Journal Review in which he destroyed a series of mobile phones by various methods.Trump recalled the dust-up as the “beginning of a friendship” as he noted with irony that it was Graham who’d had the “last laugh.”

“While I blew up his phone all for one day, we became great friends, and Lindsey did not stop calling me for the next ten years,” he said. “It was not easy.”Join our commenting forumJoin thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their repliesComments