U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, a close aide to Donald Trump, has died from a sudden illness at the age of 71
Graham died Saturday night “from a brief and sudden illness,” his office said in a statement early on Sunday.
“Senator Graham’s family appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period,” the statement continued.
Graham was elected to the Senate in 2003.
On Saturday night, emergency personnel responded to a call for “cardiac arrest” at Graham’s home in Capitol Hill, according to a police scanner audio.
Photographs show paramedics carrying a person on a stretcher from the home to the ambulance, NBC News reported.
Graham was last seen publicly in Kyiv, Ukraine, where he met President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday to discuss the ongoing war by Russia on the country.
He was also scheduled to meet NBC News ‘Meet the Press’ on Sunday.
Graham was a retired Air Force Reserve colonel who specialised in military law. He was a prominent republican senator from South Carolina and has represented the state in the Senate since 2003. He held key positions in the upper chamber, including chairman of the Senate Budget Committee.
He was also Trump’s most outspoken defender in the current conflict with Iran.
In 2016, he had run for president and was initially a critic of Trump, but later backed him.
