Sen. Tommy Tuberville revealed new details about the frantic final moments before Sen. Lindsey Graham died, saying a former member of his own staff helped get medical assistance to the South Carolina Republican.
Graham, 71, died suddenly over the weekend after returning from an overseas trip, stunning colleagues who had watched him work almost nonstop on foreign policy, national security and Senate business.
Tuberville, an Alabama Republican, told reporters that Graham called his scheduler after experiencing chest pains.
“My former scheduler was Lindsey’s scheduler, and one of my staff members was with that scheduler the night Lindsey called,” Tuberville told reporters. “He called and basically said, ‘Listen, I’m having chest pains. You know, I need to do something.’ ‘Did you call 911?’ And he goes, ‘No, that’s the reason I called you.’”
The scheduler called 911, Tuberville said.
“And so she called 911… By the time she got there, 911 had knocked the door down, and they were working on him,” he continued.
Graham’s office said Sunday evening that the longtime lawmaker died from “aortic dissection due to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease.”
An aortic dissection happens when a tear forms in the inner wall of the aorta, the body’s main artery. It is a life-threatening medical emergency.
Tuberville said Graham’s punishing schedule had taken a toll.
“Lindsey basically worked himself to death, most of us have families, he didn’t have any family,” Tuberville said. “And if we had a couple of days off, he went to that airport, and he went somewhere to try to work out something for our country.”
Axios reported that in one of Graham’s final conversations, he told an unnamed source that he felt unwell but wanted to wait until after a scheduled appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” before seeking medical attention.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) says his former staffer called 911 on behalf of Sen. Lindsey Graham after Graham said he was experiencing chest pains.
“By the time she got there, 911 had knocked the door down,” Tuberville said. “They were working on him.” pic.twitter.com/1qZqn5obDh
— CBS News (@CBSNews) July 13, 2026
“I can’t die now. I still need to do the Russia sanctions, get Iran sorted out and do Israeli-Saudi normalization,” Graham said.
His death shook the Senate on Monday as lawmakers returned to Washington after the Fourth of July recess.
Graham’s Senate desk, once used by his close friend, the late Sen. John McCain, was draped in black.
A glass bowl of sharp white roses sat on top.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, became emotional while honoring Graham on the Senate floor.
Thune said the “halls of the Senate already feel empty without him.”
“I am comforted by the knowledge that, in the end, he has just changed his address. And that one day, Mr. President,” Thune said through tears. “We will laugh together again.”
Graham will be succeeded by his sister, Darline Graham Nordone, who was appointed by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster to serve the remainder of his Senate term.
Nordone is expected to be sworn in Tuesday.
“I think this is what Lindsey would have wanted, and I plan to honor him in this way,” Nordone said during the ceremony in Columbia, South Carolina. “Now to Lindsey, I miss you more than I can even put into words. But I’m going to do this, I got it.”
Graham spent more than two decades in the Senate and became one of the chamber’s most recognizable Republican voices, especially on foreign policy.
His final reported words about unfinished work were classic Graham, restless, hawkish and convinced there was always one more fight to take on.
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