Sen. Lindsey Graham was a staunch ally of Senator John McCain. He was one of the Arizona Republican’s closest friends. Graham revealed the late lawmaker’s last words to him in an emotional interview on NBC’s “Today.”
“The last thing he said to me was, ‘I love you, I have not been cheated,’” Graham, a South Carolina Republican, said, as a tear rolled down his cheek.
Senator McCain died on Saturday night after a year long battle with brain cancer. He had spent a good part of the last three years fighting with President Trump. But Graham, who unlike McCain has embraced Trump’s presidency, said that his friend never had much of a problem with his decision to support Trump.
“John has shown it’s not about you. Country first,” Graham said. “Country first hurts, but it’s the right way to go.”
President Trump at first just shared a brief tweet focused on McCain’s family when he heard of the senator’s death. He also prematurely re-raised the White House flag to full-staff before having it lowered back to half-staff after veterans groups and lawmakers grew furious. Graham praised Trump for “finally” getting “to where he needs to be.”
“How the president feels about Sen. McCain, it’s his right to feel any way he likes,” Graham said.
“Clearly they had a contentious relationship. He’s not the only one to have had a tense relationship with John McCain,” he added.
Graham also had some controversial words to say about Trump’s relationship with Jeff Sessions. He said that Trump deserved a faithful attorney general and might fire Sessions after the November midterm elections. He said that the U.S. needs an attorney general “who can work with the president.”
Just last year Graham said the president would have “holy hell” to pay if he fired Sessions.
Graham added that the rift between the two men was “much deeper” than Trump being angry with Sessions for having recused himself from any federal probe into Russian election meddling.
“It’s a pretty deep breach,” he said. “This relationship is beyond repair.”
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