Trump to eulogize Lindsey Graham at funeral in Washington today

Washington — President Trump will deliver the eulogy at the funeral for Sen. Lindsey Graham, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are expected to attend the service at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., Tuesday. 

Graham, a four-term senator known for his close relationship to the president and his hawkishness on foreign policy, was a key player in a number of major bipartisan agreements before his death on July 11. He had just returned from a trip to Ukraine, where he visited Zelenskyy and told him of plans for new U.S. sanctions and tariffs against Russia. 

A medical examiner determined Graham’s cause of death was an aortic dissection due to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease. He was 71. 

The services will begin with an arrival ceremony at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, where Graham’s remains will be carried by an Armed Forces Body Bearer team to honor his Air Force service, followed by a U.S. Capitol Police memorial guard in a nod to his tenure in the Senate. The ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda will be closed to the public. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota said upon announcing the special ceremony in the Rotunda that “it seems fitting for his friends and colleagues to give back to him through this special Capitol honor.”

“For so many of us in the Senate and the House, myself included, Lindsey was more than a colleague, he was a friend,” Thune said in a statement. “From the military to state politics to decades of representing South Carolinians in Congress, Lindsey dedicated his life to giving back through public service.”

After the ceremony in the Rotunda, funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. at Washington National Cathedral, where President Trump and others will pay tribute to the late senator. 

Tuesday’s funeral in the nation’s capital will be followed by services in South Carolina on Wednesday morning, beginning with a procession at the South Carolina State House around 10:45 a.m. 

During the funeral procession, Graham’s remains will be carried by members of the South Carolina State Guard, with a presentation of law enforcement and an F-16 flyover. The procession will conclude at the First Baptist Church of Columbia, where a funeral service will be held, followed by a private family burial in Pickens, South Carolina. 

Sen. Darline Graham, who was appointed to serve out the remainder of her brother’s term, expressed her gratitude in a statement to “all those who have come together to help honor and remember Lindsey.”