Top Graham Staffer Says 'No Indication' The Senator Was Not Feeling Well Before Death

Joining me now on the phone is NBC's Meet the Press moderator, Kristen Welker. Kristen, thank you so much for joining us in the wee hours of the morning in D.C. I can't even imagine what you're going through, someone who has followed him closely. Graham was supposed to be a guest on Meet the Press in just a few hours, wasn't he? He absolutely was, and I think right now the collective feeling is just absolute shock. As you just reported, he was just in Ukraine. He had been in Ankara, Turkey. I just spoke with one of the top staffers who said there was no indication that he was not feeling well. This person describes him always as the energizer. Funny, I spoke with Senator Lindsey Graham just the other day, talked to him about his trip. The fact that he was about to go to Ukraine, he was very interested in talking about that. He is, of course, a staunch ally of Ukraine, has advocated for more support for Ukraine, and has also been very firm in terms of the war in Iran. He was prepared to send the message, it's time to really escalate with Iran. This is just an absolutely shocking development. I should say, yeah, this is someone who has allies on both sides of the aisle. He had just co-sponsored legislation to ramp up pressure on Russia, had just gotten the president on board with that. He's worked across the aisle with a number of different lawmakers, Senator Richard Blumenthal, Sheldon Whitehouse, to name just a few. I think that Washington is going to wake up this morning, and quite frankly, so much of this country and the world, and just be in shock and absolutely devastated. I can hear that shock and devastation in your voice, Kristen. As we're talking to you, we are showing these photos, just videos of that meeting the other day. He looked so exuberant and lively. This is breaking news in the middle of the night in DC. Of course, we've heard from South Carolina's governor, but have we heard from any other leaders at this time? Have you been able to get in touch with anyone else? Have you heard anything? I haven't. I've called the White House. As you can imagine, because it's the middle of the night, so far, we haven't gotten any reaction. I anticipate that will start to come in in the coming hours. It's worth really underscoring that point, it's an important one. It's a good one. This was one of the president's closest allies, someone he would golf with, someone who had his ear on a range of topics, but particularly as it related to foreign policy. Senator Graham was one of the more hawkish members of the Republican Party and did advocate for a forceful response, whether we're talking about Iran or other conflicts globally. This was someone who was a real touchstone for President Trump. President Trump, of course, just this week, was at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey. He declared that the ceasefire with Iran is now over. There's a lot of question about what's going to happen next and what the next steps are going to be. Senator Lindsey Graham was one of the people who had his ear, was one of the people who was giving him counsel on how he saw these next steps unfolding. This is someone who had bipartisan relationships across Washington, but who really had the ear of the president, has been a longtime ally of President Trump, going back to his first campaign, his first presidency. This is going to be a real personal loss for President Trump as well. We have not heard from him yet, we have not heard from the White House, but I anticipate that we will. And you mentioned, Kristen, not just for President Trump, not just for the people who worked with him closely, but all of America. Senator Graham was a longtime public servant. He had been in the Senate since 2003. He also served as a congressman before that. How else will he be remembered by the American people as this news continues to break? Well, I think you're right to point that out. This is someone who is in so many ways just engraved into our politics. He has been a US senator since 2002, was seeking his fifth term in office, and had a somewhat spirited primary battle, did emerge victorious from that battle with the support, again, of President Trump. But he's someone who's really been at the forefront of some of the major debates that this country has seen throughout the course of those four terms that he has served so far. And I think that so many people will always remember that image of him and the late Senator John McCain. The two of them were a force. They were dear friends, and they were very powerful senators. Senator Graham, of course, sat on a powerful judiciary committee. They are just about to start hearings for the acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. So he certainly would have been a part of those hearings. And that was part of what we were going to discuss with him today, to look forward, what would be next on Iran? What were his thoughts about his trip to Ukraine? How does he see this confirmation hearing unfolding? He's really at the center of so many foreign and domestic politics of this country. And from that perspective, he's just someone I think who will be greatly missed by people on both sides of the aisle. Yeah, a giant in D.C. and across our country. Lindsay, I know that this is just, again, such a shock, so devastating. But we have mentioned, you mentioned that he was running for another term. We know that he just was successful in South Carolina's primary just last month. What happens now in that election? Is it too early to kind of get a grasp of what will come out of South Carolina? It is, but it's yet another race that will be thrown into question. It's a reliably red seat, so it's hard to see that it would not go to a Republican. And yet, at the same time, this is more uncertainty at the very moment that, for example, former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is still hospitalized. I just spoke to Senator John Barrasso earlier today, talked to him about the fact that Senator Lindsey Graham was going to be on Meet the Press, and talked about Leader McConnell. And Senator Barrasso had told me that he was in touch with former Leader McConnell twice since he has been hospitalized, that he anticipated that he will be back. But this is a lot of uncertainty when it comes to the makeup of the Senate and in terms of what happens next. I anticipate they will need to appoint someone on an interim basis. And yet, I also want to underscore, it's not exactly clear what the immediate next steps will be. This is just an incredible shock, and people in South Carolina and across the country are going to have to absorb it and figure out what those next steps are going to be. And you used the word, and it's an important one, powerful. He's an incredibly powerful senator because of his longevity in the U.S. Senate. And so, I think the concept of trying to move forward, given this sudden and shocking death, is going to be very challenging.