Lindsey Graham's two-day funeral will draw world leaders to Washington this week, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy both attending the ceremonies for the South Carolina Republican senator while seizing the opportunity for separate White House meetings.
The late senator's casket will lie in state at the Capitol Rotunda on Tuesday before being transported to Washington National Cathedral for an afternoon service. Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to speak at the cathedral ceremony, marking an unusual reconciliation given Graham's past criticism of Trump as a "jackass" and "race-baiting bigot" before shifting to support him in recent years.
Graham, 71, died from a heart condition shortly after returning to Washington from a visit to Kyiv, where he had been working on a new Russia sanctions bill. A former Air Force lawyer who spent eight years in the House and 23 years in the Senate, Graham established himself as one of Washington's most influential foreign policy hawks.
Wednesday's ceremonies will shift to South Carolina, beginning at the state house in Columbia with an F-16 flyover, followed by a procession to First Baptist Church for a public service. A private family burial will follow in Pickens County, near Central, the small town where Graham and his younger sister Darline were raised. Darline succeeded her brother in the Senate.
Back at the White House on Tuesday, both Netanyahu and Zelenskyy will pursue high-stakes conversations with Trump. The meetings carry particular weight given the fraught nature of recent relations with both leaders. Netanyahu and Trump's relationship has reportedly deteriorated amid angry confrontations, while Zelenskyy's last recorded White House visit in February 2025 ended badly, with Trump and Vice President JD Vance criticizing him for not wearing a suit.
The funeral comes weeks after the Wall Street Journal released documentary footage from February showing Graham expressing enthusiastic support for US and Israeli military operations against Iran. In the clips, Graham said he "almost cried" upon learning strikes were underway, calling the operation "the best thing I've ever done" and claiming Trump "loves blowing stuff up."
Graham predicted the Iran campaign would destabilize Tehran within weeks and suggested the US should join Israeli strikes on Lebanon. The senator also compared Trump and Netanyahu to "Roosevelt and Churchill," describing them as "the right two guys to confront this evil." Neither prediction has materialized, and the US has not joined operations against Lebanon.
The initial Iranian strikes killed at least 175 people, mostly schoolchildren, in the city of Minab in what military analysts characterized as a controversial "double tap" likely involving US missiles.
Author James Rodriguez: "Graham's funeral becomes a diplomatic summit in itself, but the behind-the-scenes footage of him cheering strikes that killed civilians raises uncomfortable questions about whose interests really shape foreign policy at the highest levels."
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