Washington says goodbye to Sen. Lindsey Graham, a ‘true American original’

A special ceremony at the Capitol and a funeral service at the National Cathedral were held Tuesday. A second service is planned for Wednesday in Graham’s native South Carolina.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump, congressional colleagues and world leaders Tuesday said their final goodbyes to Sen. Lindsey Graham, the influential and colorful foreign policy hawk whose sudden death this month at age 71 stunned Washington and reverberated in capitals around the globe.

Eulogizing Graham, R-S.C., at his funeral service at Washington National Cathedral, Trump called him “a respected statesman, a giant of the United States Senate and a true American original who left us much too soon.”

“Lindsey rose from a small town in rural South Carolina, a place he loved so much, to become a constant fixture of American politics at the highest level and a force to be reckoned with all over the world,” Trump told those gathered. “For more than 30 years, nothing of consequence happened in this capital without Lindsey Graham knowing about it. Nothing of significance happened anywhere in the world without Lindsey Graham having a view on it, and no bill became law in the most exceptional republic in human history without Lindsey Graham having a say in it.”

Graham had been a vocal critic of Trump’s when they ran against each other in the 2016 presidential race. But Graham became one of Trump’s closest and most trusted allies on Capitol Hill and a frequent golf partner.