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Lindsey Graham died of aortic dissection due to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease, according to a preliminary exam, his office announced Sunday evening.
An aortic dissection happens when there is a tear in the inner layer of the body’s main artery, according to the Mayo Clinic.
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When Graham’s office announced his death, they said the 71-year-old died from a “brief and sudden illness.”
Taylor Reidy, the South Carolina senator’s communications director, added that the death certification is still pending until toxicological and microscopic testing is finalized. The D.C. medical examiner did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The preliminary exam’s results come less than a day after Graham’s office announced his death. According to police scanner audio obtained by the Washington Post, a 911 call was made around 8:30 p.m. Saturday night for someone suffering from chest pains in the Washington, D.C., home owned by Graham. About 25 minutes later, CPR was underway. The audio from the scanner reveals that the person was experiencing cardiac arrest.
On Sunday, TMZ published photos of someone who appears to be Graham being wheeled outside of his home and into an ambulance.
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Since the announcement of the Republican senator’s death, his colleagues have been publicly sharing their condolences, including former President Joe Biden, who said that even though the two often disagreed, they both loved public service.
However, others haven’t been as kind.
Michael Fanone, a former D.C. police officer who was attacked by rioters on Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol, called him a “worthless *******” for sticking by President Donald Trump after the insurrection.
“I will always remember my first and only encounter with him when he looked the grieving mother of a dead police officer in the face and barked that he wasn’t going to listen to her blame Trump for January 6th,” Fanone wrote Sunday on Substack. “When I showed him my body cam footage from that day he turned away and looked at his phone. Rest in Piss you ******* worthless *******. If there is a hell I hope you’re in it.”
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Trump, who once publicly hated Graham, called the late senator “one of the greatest people” he had ever known and “a true American Patriot.”
Right before his death, Graham had visited Ukraine to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about a Russia sanction to end the war between Ukraine and Russia. Trump, however, told CNN that he didn’t think Graham wanted the war between Ukraine and Russia to end.
“I wanted to see the war with Ukraine end very quickly. I think he was more into keeping it going, frankly,” Trump said Sunday on “State of the Union.” “He was very, very militant having to do with that. But I was from the standpoint of 25,000 people dying every month; I didn’t like that. And he was a very strong military person. So am I. But I think we used it a little bit differently. We probably had a little bit of a different attitude.”
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