Graham’s final hours: Senator dismissed chest pains, joked ‘I can’t die now’ before fatal aortic dissection

In the final hours of his life, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) dismissed urgent pleas to seek medical attention, joked that he “can’t die now” because he still had foreign policy work to complete, and ultimately placed a desperate phone call to his scheduler asking her to call 911, according to accounts from colleagues and reports from Axios and CNN.

Graham, 71, died Saturday night at his Capitol Hill townhouse after suffering an aortic dissection due to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease, according to a preliminary finding from the D.C. medical examiner’s office.

The Final Phone Call

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) revealed Monday that one of his staffers was with Graham’s scheduler at a Washington restaurant watching a World Cup soccer match when Graham called.

“Lindsey called, called basically, said, ‘Listen, I’m having chest pains. You know, I need to do something,’” Tuberville told reporters.

The scheduler asked if Graham had called 911. “No, that’s the reason I called you,” Graham replied, according to Tuberville.

The scheduler immediately dialed emergency services. “By the time she got there, 911 had knocked the door down, and they were working on him,” Tuberville said.

Emergency responders were dispatched to Graham’s home around 8:30 p.m. ET for a report of someone suffering chest pains. By roughly 9 p.m., CPR was in progress and the patient was reported to be suffering from cardiac arrest. Graham was pronounced dead at 10:23 p.m., according to the Metropolitan Police Department.

‘I Can’t Die Now’

Axios reported that Graham had spoken with President Donald Trump around 6:30 p.m. Saturday, discussing Graham’s Russia sanctions bill and Trump’s plans regarding Iran.

After that call, Graham told another person he was feeling unwell. When that person urged him to seek immediate medical attention, Graham said he would wait until Sunday morning after his scheduled appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press.

“I can’t die now,” Graham joked, according to Axios. “I still need to do the Russia sanctions, get Iran sorted out and do Israeli-Saudi normalization.”

‘Worked Himself to Death’

Tuberville said Graham’s relentless work ethic contributed to his demise.

“Lindsey basically worked himself to death,” Tuberville said. “Most of us have families. He didn’t have any family, and if we had a couple of days off, he went to that airport. He went somewhere to try to work out something for our country.”

Graham had just returned from a diplomatic trip to Ukraine, where he announced he had secured White House backing for a bipartisan Russia sanctions package. He had been working to advance the legislation alongside Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal.

Trump, who spoke with Graham shortly before his death, told CNN the senator said he was “tired because it’s a long trip” but otherwise seemed fine.

Cause of Death and Investigations

Graham’s communications director, Taylor Reidy, said the D.C. medical examiner preliminarily found the senator died from an aortic dissection—a tear in the inner layer of the aorta, the body’s main artery. While not a heart attack, symptoms including chest pain, shortness of breath, and loss of consciousness often resemble those of more common conditions.

A final autopsy and toxicology results are pending. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told reporters he would like to see Graham’s toxicology report released “to rule out any foul play” and dispel conspiracy theories spreading online.

Tuberville dismissed speculation about Graham’s death. “No, there’s no conspiracy theory here,” he said.

Graham, first elected to the Senate in 2003, was known throughout his more than three decades in Congress for his intense focus on national security and foreign policy. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has appointed Graham’s sister, Darline Graham Nordone, to fill the remainder of his term.