Sen. Lindsey Graham asked a staffer to call 911 after reporting chest pains on Saturday evening, just hours before his death, according to GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville.
Tuberville told reporters on Monday that Graham called his scheduler complaining of chest pains. The scheduler, who was out to dinner with a member of Tuberville’s staff, asked Graham if he had called 911. Graham said no — “that’s the reason I called you.”
By the time the scheduler arrived at Graham’s home, emergency responders had already broken down the door and were working on him.
“He 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.”
What Caused His Death
The DC medical examiner’s office preliminarily found that Graham died from complications of an aortic dissection due to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease — a tear in the inner layer of the aorta, the main artery running through the body.
Aortic dissection is not a heart attack, but its symptoms — chest or stomach pain, shortness of breath, and loss of consciousness — often resemble more common conditions.
A final autopsy is still pending.
The Timeline
Emergency responders were dispatched to a DC address for Graham around 8:30 p.m. ET on Saturday for a report of someone suffering chest pains, according to audio of the dispatch on Broadcastify. The audio indicates someone called in from Baltimore and was heading to the home.
Graham had just returned home from a trip to Ukraine. President Donald Trump told CNN they spoke shortly before Graham’s death. Trump said they discussed his voter ID legislation — the “SAVE America Act” — and Graham’s recent travels.
“He said, ‘I’m tired because it’s a long trip,’ but other than that, he was — he was fine,” Trump recalled.
Calls for Transparency
Sen. John Cornyn told reporters he would like to see Graham’s toxicology report released “to rule out any foul play” and put to rest any false theories spreading online.
“Given where he was and the sorts of things he was advocating for, I think we just ought to resolve all those questions by seeing what the toxicology reports show,” Cornyn said.
The Bottom Line
Sen. Lindsey Graham died on Saturday after asking a staffer to call 911 for chest pains. Emergency responders broke down his door and found him in distress. Preliminary findings point to an aortic dissection. Tuberville described Graham as a workaholic who had no family and spent his free time traveling to serve the country. A final autopsy and toxicology report are pending.
