Donald Trump is now at the podium, beginning his eulogy for Lindsey Graham who he described as a “true American original.”
Key events
Donald Trump went off script for a brief moment, calling Lindsey Graham “a tough cookie.”
“But no matter how heated things got in Washington, virtually everyone, Republican or Democrat, liked Lindsey. Well, not everybody, but it sounds good. Not everybody,” Trump said.
He continued: “He was a tough cookie, Okay? I have to veer from this for a second. He was a tough cookie, Darline, but he was beautiful.”
Speaking about Darline Graham, Lindsey Graham’s sister who was appointed into his role after her brother’s death, Donald Trump said:
“He had total respect and love for Darline. Nothing could be more fitting than that woman who was Lindsey’s proudest legacy, now continues his legacy of service in the US Senate, a place that he cherished. I have no doubt that he is looking down today, beaming with pride at his sister, senator Darline Graham.”
“He died doing the work he was born to do, he was truly a great politician, serving the country he loved to serve so deeply,” Donald Trump said of Lindsey Graham.
“He went out at the peak of his career, the top of his game as a legend that every one of us, many of us here today, blessed to know him and a friend that none of us will ever forget,” he added.
Donald Trump is now at the podium, beginning his eulogy for Lindsey Graham who he described as a “true American original.”
Aram Roston
With Lindsey Graham’s funeral now underway, here is Guardian reporter Aram Roston’s dispatch from just a few moments earlier:
I’m outside the National Cathedral where the Lindsay Graham funeral is to take place. It’s a very quiet scene with few people around. Wisconsin Avenue is completely closed to traffic. there’s about two dozen metropolitan police cars and an extensive Secret Service presence. This is obviously being considered a very high profile security threat and they’ve locked it down. They are searching the buses bringing guests.
There very few protesters. At edge of the security site, a handful of local residents are waving an American flag, a Ukrainian flag and a NATO flag. One woman was wearing a “childless cat ladies against fascism” T-shirt said she doesn’t remember security anywhere near as extensive as this at previous funerals. “This is insane. We’ve never seen it like this,” she said.
Another said: “We’re here in support of democracy.”
At the north end of the security fence, about a dozen silent protesters held Palestinian flags. One of the protesters, who gave her first name as Sumer, said they were at the funeral because “[Benjamin] Netanyahu should not be here.” Graham, she said was a war criminal because of his support of Israel’s operations. “He’s not someone who deserves an honorary funeral,” she added.
The funeral service for Lindsey Graham is now underway at the Washington National Catheral.
In attendance are several high profile White House officials including Donald Trump, JD Vance, defense secretary Pete Hegseth, treasury secretary Scott Bessent, interior secretary Doug Burgum, and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, among others.
Trump leaves White House to attend Lindsey Graham’s funeral
Donald Trump’s motorcade has left the White House and is en route to the funeral service for Lindsey Graham at Washington National Cathedral. The president is due to deliver a eulogy at 2pm ET.
Kentucky governor calls on McConnell to ‘verbally’ prove he has capacity to serve in Senate role or resign
Kentucky’s governor Andy Beshear yesterday called on ailing GOP senator Mitch McConnell to either “directly and verbally address the people of Kentucky” with “proof of your capacity to serve” in the Senate or to resign from Congress.
McConnell, 84, continues to recover at home from a fall that left him hospitalized over a month ago. According to a statement from his office yesterday, McConnell said he’s “still working hard to get back to my full schedule of work in the Senate and in Kentucky.” A note from the attending physician said he had undergone “strenuous” physical therapy and rehabilitation, but added: “He is not yet medically cleared to leave the rehab facility and return to the office.”
“It has now been 43 days since news of your hospitalization,” Beshear wrote in a letter addressed to McConnell and his staff. “During that time you have cast zero votes, engaged in no official activities, and aside from two photos and corresponding statements, have made no effort to communicate with your Kentucky constituents or the nation.”
“I understand anyone’s desire for privacy, but when you run for office and serve as one of a state’s two US senators, you willingly abdicate much of your personal privacy,” he went on. “That’s the deal, and we all know it when we run.”
Beshear added: “President Trump is stuck in a war of his own making and has greatly strengthened the very country he claims is a threat. Prices continue to rise, crushing Americans who are working hard but not getting ahead. Americans’ voting rights are being eliminated by the Supreme Court and threatened by congressional action. All while you are absent and refuse to communicate clearly and directly to the people you serve.”
He ended the letter with the ultimatum:
As Governor of the state you serve, I am calling on you to directly and verbally address the people of Kentucky and provide proof of your capacity to serve, or resign.
The governor noted that a Senate vacancy occurs when a senator dies, resigns or is expelled by a vote in the upper chamber.
Beshear said he was also writing to Senate majority leader John Thune to urge him to investigate McConnell’s condition “if you are unwilling to voluntarily show that you still have the capacity to serve”. “If Senator McConnell is unwilling to voluntarily show that he still has the capacity to serve, I will insist that you as the Majority Leader of the Senate fully investigate his condition, report to the American people, and begin the process if warranted,” he wrote to Thune.
“All of this speculation and even this letter could have been avoided with a minimal amount of transparency,” Beshear wrote to McConnell. “Kentuckians are just asking you to be honest.”
McConnell is due to retire when his terms ends in January.
Trump holds ‘positive and productive’ meeting with Netanyahu, White House says
Trump’s closed-door meeting with Netanyahu has now ended. It lasted nearly an hour and a half and was “positive and productive”, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on X. We’ll bring you any more details as we get them.
As we’ve been reporting, Benjamin Netanyahu arrived to the White House today to meet with Donald Trump for the first time since they launched their joint war on Iran on 28 February, with the Israeli PM reportedly anxious to smooth out strains in their relationship.
It comes as both face growing pressures at home. Netanyahu, who is up for a tough re-election fight, is embattled in part because of his deteriorating relationship with Trump and his want to carry on fighting against Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon, which left him sidelined as Trump sought a deal with Tehran. Indeed, the US president is under pressure to end an unpopular war that has wreaked economic havoc and driven up prices ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Trump revealed some tension with Netanyahu ahead of their meeting this morning, complaining about reports that the Israeli leader plans to discuss intelligence on Iranian activities at Pickaxe Mountain, a potential nuclear site that Trump has threatened repeatedly to bomb.
“I know exactly what’s going on at Pickaxe,” Trump told Fox and Friends. He insisted that whatever Iran is doing is “not a big problem” and that “Bibi’s telling me that because he wants me to stay involved”.
“Why do you have to announce to the world?” Trump added, signaling his frustrations with his ally.
Near the White House where the public was able to gather near fencing, protesters chanted, “Netanyahu, you’re a tyrant” and “Bibi, you’re not welcome here.”
The two leaders also planned to discuss the framework agreement the US and Israel signed with Lebanon over the Israel-Hezbollah war and the expansion of the Abraham Accords, a White House official told the Associated Press.
“We have a little difference,” Trump said yesterday when asked by reporters if he and Netanyahu were on the same page on Iran. “But pretty close, yeah.”
But even as Netanyahu sees an opportunity, he also needs to persuade Trump that he won’t play spoiler to US diplomatic and reconstruction efforts in Gaza and in Lebanon, where the president has previously complained that “too many people are being killed” by Israeli strikes.
It all comes as Israel has lost a significant amount of bipartisan support in the United States, particularly over its conduct in Gaza where it stands accused of committing genocide.
In June, US vice-president JD Vance warned Israeli officials that Trump was their only friend among world leaders. Vance is expected to be in attendance at the meeting with Netanyahu, a person familiar with the plan told the Associated Press.
An AP-NORC poll published earlier this month found a dramatic erosion of support among American adults for Israel.
For more on that, my colleague Matthew Cassel traveled to New York City – the heart of Jewish-American life – to explore how Israel’s wars across multiple fronts has seen so many American Jews turn away from Israel.
And now we have this statement from the Ukrainian president on his meeting with Trump and a tribute to Lindsey Graham, whom he called “a true friend of Ukraine”.
Volodymyr Zelenksyy wrote on X:
A good meeting with President Trump @POTUS at the Oval Office. Thank you for everything we do together to protect the lives of Ukrainians and advance peace. First and foremost, I offered President Trump our condolences on the passing of Lindsey Graham. He was a true friend of Ukraine. The President and I discussed licenses for Patriot interceptor production and several other ideas that could help. We also spoke about diplomacy – it’s important that the diplomatic process be reinvigorated. Our teams will arrange the details of their further communication. I am grateful to the United States for its firm support.
Netanyahu arrives at White House
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has now left the White House after his meeting with Trump, and Benjamin Netanyahu arrived about 15 minutes later.
The ceremony was the first of two major Washington services today for Lindsey Graham, who died on 9 July.
Donald Trump is expected to deliver a tribute to the late senator at a 2pm ET funeral at Washington National Cathedral.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy are also due to attend, reflecting Graham’s role as one of Washington’s most outspoken advocates for both countries.
The two leaders scheduled separate White House meetings with Trump during visits that coincided with pivotal moments in the wars involving Iran and Ukraine.
Zelensky was also due to meet senators later today ahead of a preliminary vote on tougher sanctions against Russia, legislation Graham had worked on for more than a year before his sudden death.
Graham was one of Congress’s most consistent advocates of an assertive US military role abroad, supporting intervention against Iran and strong backing for Israel and Ukraine.
As reported earlier, Trump acknowledged that reputation this morning, telling Fox News that Graham was “very strong on the military”.
Lindsey liked war. He’s never seen a war that he didn’t like.
Vice-president JD Vance also delivered remarks, telling mourners that Lindsey Graham was an affable, gregarious politician who would slap Senate colleagues on the back and had a passion for engaging opponents in “swashbuckling” debate.
“Lindsey Graham loved people from all walks of life,” said Vance, who served two years in the Senate. “I think in part because of the way that he grew up, because the fact that he wasn’t handed everything, he was fascinated in everybody.”
He also credited Graham with the successful confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the supreme court. “I believe that he saved that nomination,” Vance said.
Vance said he remembered Graham as someone “who could disagree with you without being disagreeable”.
I choose to remember Lindsey Graham as a person who could fight with you on one issue, but fight for you on another issue. I remember Lindsey Graham as a man who loved people, and because he loved people, he was willing to reason with them, to respect them and ultimately to persuade them.
Speaking at the brief ceremony in the Capitol rotunda, Senate majority leader John Thune credited the late Lindsey Graham for his leadership on foreign affairs, calling him “a towering figure” in Congress and on the international stage.
He called the late senator a “fierce defender of Ukraine” and hailed him “as a powerful voice for the [anti-abortion] movement” and lauding his efforts to pass tax cut legislation.
“I look forward to the days when you make us all laugh again,” Thune said, visibly emotional as he concluded his tribute.
Lindsey Graham’s casket was brought into the Capitol rotunda short while ago by military service members as the two days of ceremonies and funeral services began at 10am ET.
Trump and Zelenskyy hold closed-door meeting
Trump’s meeting with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is under way. We’ll be looking out for a sense of US support for Ukraine and signs of changed posture from the Trump administration on Ukraine-Russia.
