Graham funeral draws Netanyahu and Zelenskyy to Washington

Two days of funeral ceremonies for Lindsey Graham will begin Tuesday in Washington, bringing foreign leaders, members of Congress and President Donald Trump together to mourn the late South Carolina Republican senator as newly released footage highlights his role in pushing Trump toward war with Iran.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are expected to attend the ceremonies. Both leaders also have scheduled meetings with Trump at the White House.

Graham, a longtime foreign policy hawk and former U.S. Air Force lawyer, died July 11 at age 71 from a heart condition after returning to Washington from Kyiv, where he had met Zelenskyy while working on a new Russia sanctions bill. He served eight years in the House and 23 years in the Senate.

Tuesday’s memorial events will begin at the Capitol Rotunda. Graham’s casket will then be taken to Washington National Cathedral for an afternoon service. Trump, whom Graham once called a “jackass” and a “race-baiting bigot” before later becoming one of his allies, is among the scheduled speakers.

On Wednesday, ceremonies will move to South Carolina. Services and an F-16 flyover are planned at the state house in Columbia, followed by a procession to First Baptist Church for a public service. A private family burial will be held in Pickens County, home to Central, the town where Graham and his younger sister and Senate successor, Darline, were born.

The funeral comes as the Wall Street Journal has released excerpts from more than 400 hours of footage shot by British filmmaker Alex Holder’s documentary team, which shadowed Graham for three years. The footage shows Graham celebrating the start of U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran and describing his efforts to persuade Trump to take part.

“How long have we been pushing this?” Graham said in one excerpt, according to the footage. “Look what we’ve done here. I almost cried. I talked to Trump this morning. Oh, he’s jacked! He said ‘best thing I’ve ever done’. He loves blowing stuff up.”

The Guardian reported that at least 175 people, most of them schoolchildren, were killed in the Iranian city of Minab in the first strikes, in all likelihood by U.S. missiles in a controversial “double tap” strike. Al Jazeera reported that the Feb. 28 U.S.-Israeli strikes killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and started the war.

In the footage, Graham said many people around Trump had opposed launching the war but that the president had been “a great wartime president.” He compared Trump and Netanyahu to Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, saying, “Trump and Bibi are like Roosevelt and Churchill. I mean, they’re the right two guys to confront this evil.”

Another excerpt shows Graham speaking by phone with Netanyahu on March 4, after Hezbollah resumed rocket attacks on Israel in support of Iran. “Hey Bibi, Lindsey,” Graham said. “I’m just so impressed, glad to be your friend.” Netanyahu replied, “Glad you are my friend.”

Graham then offered to lobby Trump to join Israel in bombing Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. “I’m going to meet with the president this weekend … I’m gonna try to get him to join with y’all in Lebanon, to maybe fly some with you, would you like that?” he said. Netanyahu told him to hold off, saying Israel was focused on Iran and adding, “We can do it later.”

The Wall Street Journal said some footage also showed Graham’s frustration with Trump. In a final interview at a bagel shop in Columbia in June, Graham expressed concern about a preliminary ceasefire agreement Trump had signed with Iran. “He’s letting this thing slip away,” Graham said. “I got to go talk to him.”