WATCH LIVE: Senate returns to Washington after sudden death of Sen. Lindsey Graham
The surprise death of the South Carolina senator has shaken Republicans who were already at odds with President Donald Trump and stalled on several priorities as they return from a two-week recess.
Mary Clare Jalonick, Associated Press Mary Clare Jalonick, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans will return to Washington on Monday with an uncertain agenda after the sudden death of prominent Republican Lindsey Graham, a committee chairman and key player who served as a crucial ally with President Donald Trump.
Graham, 71, died Saturday evening after a tear in his aorta , according to a statement from his office on Sunday. The shocking news came after another prominent Republican senator, former Republican leader Mitch McConnell, has been hospitalized for almost a month. McConnell broke a weekslong silence about his health Sunday evening, saying that he was still recovering after suffering from pneumonia and falling in his home.
Despite consolidated power in Washington, Republicans have been unable to get much done as the Senate, House and White House have disagreed on legislative priorities and as Trump has criticized Senate Republicans, in particular, for not passing his legislation to require proof of citizenship for voters. Graham, who was one of Trump's closest friends in the Senate, often served as a pivotal intermediary.
"He was a great — like a gauge, a temperature gauge of the Senate," Trump said of Graham on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday morning, noting he had talked to Graham on Saturday. "He could go in and get something approved. He would just get people on his side."
