Trump eulogizes Lindsey Graham at funeral: ‘He never saw a war that he didn’t like’

President Donald Trump remembered the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., as a beloved friend and an unapologetic foreign-policy hawk during a July 28 funeral attended by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and leaders from across the U.S. government.

Speaking at Washington National Cathedral, Trump called Graham “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.”

“For more than 30 years, nothing of consequence happened in this capital without Lindsey Graham knowing about it,” the President 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,” Trump added.

The President also directly acknowledged Graham’s controversial reputation as one of Washington’s most persistent advocates for U.S. military intervention overseas.

“Above all, Lindsey Graham believed in a strong America,” Trump said. “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.”

Graham, according to Trump, “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.”

The President offered a somewhat different assessment during a Fox News interview before the funeral, suggesting Graham had become more receptive to negotiations with Iran during the final weeks of his life.

Despite Graham’s longstanding hawkishness, Trump said the senator had recently adopted the position that “it’s better making a deal in this case than just destroying the rest of the country.”

Fox News host Sean Hannity, another close friend of Graham’s who delivered a eulogy at the funeral, directly addressed the charge that the senator had been a “warmonger.” Hannity called that criticism “false” and argued that Graham’s ultimate objective was peace through the defeat of America’s enemies.

“Lindsey desperately wanted and talked to the President about a lasting peace in the Middle East,” Hannity said. “He wanted every region, every country in the region, on that path to peace. That was Lindsey’s dream.”

Hannity praised what he called Graham’s “moral clarity,” particularly in his support for the war with Iran.

“He understood right from wrong, good from evil, and he knew, as President Trump knows, as Israel knows, as I know, there can be no path to peace until evil is defeated,” Hannity said. He described the Iranian regime as “a death cult” and “the world’s No. 1 state sponsor of terror.”

Addressing Netanyahu, Hannity said Graham “loved the state of Israel” and considered the country one of America’s “most consistent and loyal allies.” He also welcomed Zelenskyy, whom Graham had met in Kyiv one day before his death.

Graham’s record supplied ample grounds for both the praise and criticism of his foreign policy. As Zeale News previously reported, Graham said he met repeatedly with Israeli intelligence officials in the weeks before the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran and advised Netanyahu on how to persuade Trump to authorize U.S. strikes.

Graham also said he enlisted retired Gen. Jack Keane and former George W. Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen to lobby Trump for military action. After the war began, he urged the administration to pursue regime change and expand bombing to “Iranian and Hezbollah elements in Lebanon.”

More recently, Graham publicly questioned the Trump administration’s diplomatic effort to end the conflict. As Zeale News reported in June, Graham expected negotiations to fail and predicted additional U.S. military action to secure the Strait of Hormuz.

CatholicVote Vice President of Political Advocacy Joshua Mercer highlighted the divided nature of Graham’s legacy after his death. Mercer said he “disagreed strongly with his hawkish, interventionist foreign policy,” but praised Graham as a “strong pro-life advocate” and a “champion” during the confirmation battle over Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Trump and Hannity likewise singled out Graham’s fiery defense of Kavanaugh as perhaps the senator’s finest domestic political moment.

Before the cathedral service, Vice President JD Vance and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., honored Graham during a ceremony in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. Vance, who repeatedly clashed with Graham over funding for Ukraine and the proper limits of American power, recalled him as someone who could “disagree with you without being disagreeable.”

Graham had visited Ukraine 10 times following Russia’s 2022 invasion. His final trip came immediately before his death, when he met with Zelenskyy and worked to advance legislation targeting Russia’s energy sector.

Hours after the funeral, the Senate was scheduled to begin considering the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026. The bill would sanction Russian officials, banks, oligarchs, and energy interests, while authorizing tariffs against major purchasers of Russian energy and extending restrictions on Iran’s energy and weapons sectors.

Graham died July 11 at age 71 from an aortic dissection related to cardiovascular disease. He will be honored July 29 with a procession, an F-16 flyover, and another service in South Carolina before a private burial in Pickens County.