Welcome back to State of the Union, the world reeling from the sudden death of Senator Lindsey Graham. Joining us now on the phone is President Trump to talk about his friend and ally. Mr. President, thank you so much for joining us. Obviously, quite a shock. The, the Senator was a close ally of yours. He referred to himself as your north star, the Trump guy in the Senate.
What are your thoughts about Lindsey Graham this morning?
Well, it's devastating. I thought he was fine. He called me last night. He just got back from Ukraine. And, uh, he had [Laughs] a great trip. He was telling me about the trip. He was pushing very, very hard. You probably know he wanted to do the SAVE America Act that he was talking about that. He was full of them and vigor.
He was tired. He said, "I'm tired because it's a long trip." But other than that, he was, he was fine. And he called me, I guess, just moments before because he called me like at 6:30 or something and the, uh, the medical people got there a little bit later, right a- -- right after that. What a, what a terrible loss it is. He's a great politician.
He was a natural, there are very few of them. He was a natural politician. Got along with everybody. When he didn't, he was very tough. He, you know, he was a tough cookie too, but he got a- -- uh, got along with everybody.
Yeah, he, he had some, uh, harsh words about you 10 years ago when you were running against each other.
No, he did.
And --
Well, he ran against me and he was, you know, [Laughs] formidable. He was a tough cook- -- he was tough and smart. And, uh, that's where I got to know him on the campaign. I didn't know him before then. And I spoke to him maybe once in my life before then, but I, I got to know him. He ca- -- he was one of the 17 people that ran against me. And, uh, he was, you know, a smart guy.
And it was a nasty campaign. He was tough and nasty, but I was nasty too. And it worked out fine. And I got to know him by little drips and drabs and then we became friendly and there was no better advocate. He was a fantastic advocate in the Senate and he could do things that other people, he was, he was able to, if I had a really big problem with a certain Democrat, he could work it out, you know? [Laughs] That's something most Republicans can't do.
As you just mentioned, he died right after returning to Washington DC from a trip to Ukraine. It was his 10th trip there. He was a strong, uh, belief in interventionism, a staunch --
Right.
-- uh, defender of Israel, staunch, uh, advocate for, uh, Zelenskyy. How influential was he with you, uh, when it came to foreign policy?
Well, we disagreed a little bit, but overall, you know, I'm, I'm a big, uh, Israel person. He was certainly that. Uh, I was, uh, I wanted to see the war with Ukraine end, uh, very quickly. I think he was more into, you know, keeping it going, frankly. He was, he was very, very militant having to do with that, but I was, I was from the standpoint of 25,000 people dying every month.
I didn't like that. And, uh, he was very much, he was a very strong military person. So am I, but I think we used it a little bit differently. We probably had a little bit of a different attitude, but we got along on it. Essentially, we agreed. And essentially we agreed on almost everything. Where he was really becoming strong was the SAVE America Act.
That was, he was really, and I think he was gonna be there very, very strongly under filibuster. He was against terminating the filibuster. And I think he was doing that because he said we have a budget coming up and we have debt ceiling coming up and the Democrats will, you know, they've, they're deranged in many ways and they're not gonna be able to do it. So he was, he was coming aboard, I think, for the filibuster, terminating the filibuster.
But we, before we did that, he was gonna, he was a strong advocate for SAVE America. And that's what he called me about last time. I mean, I think of it. I spoke to him just, he had already landed. He was probably at his place. I don't know where he was, but, uh, I spoke to him and then I got a call a few hours later saying late in the evening at 2:00 in the morning actually.
Uh, but they found out about it, I think about 8:00, about his problem. But, uh, so it had to be something very quick because he was fine when I spoke. Other than being tired, he was fine.
He obv- -- obviously, um, was very supportive of the strikes against Iran. The US and Iran have been engaging back and forth in strikes over the last few days and overnight. Are we back at war? And who controls the strait of hormones?
Well, I don't wanna, out of respect for Lindsey, I'm not talking about that. We hit them very hard last night, so I don't wanna talk about it, but I will say we hit them very hard last night. We had a deal with them yesterday. They were giving up everything. And then all of a sudden, two hours after that, they hit a ship with a, uh, drone.
And I said, "These people, there's something wrong with them." But I'm talking about a man who had nothing wrong with him and that's Lindsey Graham.
Ir- -- Iran has declared the Strait of Hormuz closed. Is, is that true, Mr. President?
Uh, it's open as far as we're concerned. Don't talk about it. Talk about the reason that you asked me to speak.
Okay. We appreciate your time, sir.
But it's open.
Before I let you go, is there any other final word that you want the American people to know about Lindsey Graham? What, what was it about --
No, I, I think his finest moment was his defense of Brett Kavanaugh, who's a terrific guy and was treated very, very unfairly by the Democrats, very unfair. I've never seen anything like it. Maybe the worst I've ever seen anyone treated. That includes me. Well, maybe not me. But it includes just about everybody.
He was treated so unfairly and Lindsey, as you remember, had that moment. And, you know, I'll tell you, Jake, I think it was the top 10, maybe a top five moment in the history [Laughs] of the Senate. It was an incredible display. And he did it from the heart. He felt strongly about Brett and he did it from the heart and it turned that whole thing around.
He was really amazing. That was a, that was one they should replay.
Well, I know, uh, you don't wanna talk about any other issues, um, out of respect for Lindsey Graham, but we would love to have you back sometime because I, I do have a lot of other questions for you, sir.
Sure. We'll do that. We'll do that.
Thank you for calling in.
We're trying to --
Yeah.
-- have CNN go in a normal path, and we'll do that.
Well, I'm on a normal path right here, sir, and I appreciate your time.
Good. You are.
And thank you for calling in.
Okay. Thanks a lot.
Thanks so much.
Thank you.
We'll be right back after this quick break.