Sen. Lindsey Graham dies at 71 after brief illness

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina died Saturday evening after what his office described as a brief and sudden illness. He was 71. Graham was first elected to the Senate in 2002 after serving in the House and went on to become one of the chamber’s most prominent Republicans. At the time of his death, he was running for a fifth term and serving as chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, while also sitting on the Appropriations, Judiciary, and Environment and Public Works committees. He was a close ally of President Donald Trump and an influential voice on foreign policy, including on Russia, Iran and Ukraine. BBC reported Graham had just returned from Kyiv, where he met President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday.