Lindsey Graham death updates: Trump says senator ‘sounded a little tired’ during final conversation night before he died

President Trump said he has someone in mind who he would like to see replace Graham, but he didn’t provide their name.

“I have somebody that I think would be great,” Trump told NBC News on Sunday morning. “But I don’t want to say it now because, you know, it’s just too soon with Lindsey.”

South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, a Republican, will appoint a replacement on an interim basis before a special election is held.

“The governor’s a good friend of mine,” Trump said of McMaster. “He’s gonna make a good decision.”

“America is struck this morning by the sudden and tragic passing of Senator Lindsey Graham,” House Speaker Mike Johnson wrote on X on Sunday morning.

“He believed and advocated tirelessly for American strength and exceptionalism, and he will be missed,” Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, added.

During his interview with NBC News, Trump was asked what he believed was responsible for Graham’s transformation from harsh critic to staunch supporter.

“Well, I got to know Lindsey during the campaign,” Trump said, referring to the 2016 presidential campaign, in which he and Graham were contenders.

“He was tough, but he said ‘I’ll see you in South Carolina,’’ Trump said. “But when it came to South Carolina, I won South Carolina by a lot, and I sort of ran the table on everybody. He appreciated it, he respected it. And we sort of got a little bit friendly, and the friendship just grew.”

Hunter Biden, the son of former President Joe Biden, wrote a lengthy post on X in response to Graham’s sudden death.

“When I heard about Senator Graham’s death last night, the first thing I thought about was not all the things he said and did in service of Donald Trump,” Biden wrote. “I thought of the time before Donald Trump when he was a brother to Senator John McCain.”

“That is the Senator Graham I will remember today,” he added. “Not because I have forgotten what came after. Because in that memory there is hope. Hope for a country where brothers can fight like hell over policy and still share a meal, and a laugh, and the loss of the people they love.”

President Trump said he had no additional details to provide on Graham’s death, but said that the South Carolina senator must have died suddenly.

“When I spoke to him, it could’ve been minutes before,” the Republican president said during his Sunday morning interview with NBC News, recounting his final call with Graham on Saturday evening.

“It had to be something like that, that would just be a quick end, and maybe that’s not the worst way to go,” the president added.

“He was like a member of the family to me,” Trump said of Graham during his Sunday morning interview with Meet The Press.

“If I had a problem with a Democrat, he could work it out,” Trump added. “He was a great politician.”

“He was a tough one to lose,” President Donald Trump said of Graham in an interview with Meet The Press on Sunday morning. “He was great, he was unique in every way”

Trump said what “makes it even stranger” is that he received a call from the late senator on Saturday evening.

“He called and said that we’re all set for the SAVE America Act. He was pushing the SAVE America Act like crazy,” Trump said.

The president made the last-minute arrangement to appear on the program after Graham’s death was announced just after 2 a.m. Sunday. Graham was originally slated to appear as one of the program’s guests this week, and made frequent appearances on the show over the decades.

Host Kristen Welker told NBC’s Willie Geist on Sunday that Trump was “devastated” after hearing the news of Graham’s death.