Morning Note

Lindsey Graham’s office released new information on the South Carolina senator’s sudden passing on Sunday, revealing “Aortic Dissection due to Arteriosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease” as his preliminary cause of death. Medical officials will disclose the official cause of death after further testing.

An aortic dissection occurs when a tear develops in the inner layer of the aorta. Blood rushes through the tear and causes the layers of the aortic wall to separate, which can disrupt blood flow to organs that need it to survive. This can happen unexpectedly and become deadly within minutes. Doctors believe Graham’s tear was related to the hardening of his arteries. He turned 71 just last week. 

Aortic dissection is relatively rare, affecting an estimated three to four people per 100,000 each year, according to Cleveland Clinic. High-risk groups include individuals with high blood pressure, atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), smokers, and the obese. Sudden chest pain and shortness of breath are common warning signs.

Read more here and learn more about aortic dissections here.

The cruel nature of politics is that as soon as a politician dies, everyone starts thinking about who will replace them. Lindsey Graham’s death has been no different.

Donald Trump revealed on Sunday that he already has somebody in mind to fill Graham’s Senate seat, but did not reveal the candidate’s name. Senior House Republicans reportedly do not want the replacement to come from their side of Congress, because that would reduce the GOP’s already tiny majority. Congresswoman Nancy Mace has nevertheless made clear that she may seek the position. Ron Johnson is also poised to take over the Senate Budget Committee, which Graham chaired.

The South Carolina senator was in the middle of his reelection campaign. Since he already secured the GOP nomination, a fast-tracked special primary election will now take place to choose a new nominee. In the meantime, South Carolina’s governor will appoint a temporary senator to immediately succeed Graham in Washington.

Read more.

Morning Note readers know that we strongly opposed Lindsey Graham’s foreign policy views. But that does not mean he was wrong on every issue. Donald Trump reminded news followers of that on Sunday.

The president described Graham’s death as a “big blow” to the SAVE America Act during his interview on Meet the Press, revealing that the senator was lobbying for the bill in his final hours on Earth. 

“He called and said, ‘We’re all set for the Save America Act.’ He was pushing the Save America Act like crazy,” Trump said. “He wanted to get the Save America Act. And I said, well, we’re going to get it done, Lindsey… but I got a message about 1:00 in the morning from one of the people at his office that he had passed away… I just can’t believe it,” he added.

If Congress decides to champion an issue in honor of Graham, we hope it is election integrity and not entrenching our country in more wars. 

Read more.

Lindsey Graham died hours after returning to the U.S. from Ukraine. This sparked widespread speculation that foreign actors may have played a role in his passing. The FBI’s presence at the senator’s home on Sunday increased those suspicions.

Kash Patel announced the FBI’s assistance of local authorities in the wake of Graham’s death yesterday, writing on X that the Bureau “has made every necessary resource available.” At least five agents arrived at the senator’s home shortly after Patel’s post. The agency has not indicated what prompted their deployment. Only one local police officer was reportedly on the scene when federal agents approached.

Authorities have emphasized there is currently no indication of foul play. Graham met with Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, who was quick to mourn his death.

Read more.

History will remember Lindsey Graham for his deep commitment to American interventionism. He felt strongly that the U.S. government should commit its attention to the needs of countries besides the United States, and he stuck to that belief until his dying day.

On top of touring a secret Ukrainian drone factory last week, the South Carolina senator reportedly spent his final month laying the groundwork for a push to normalize relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel. Graham saw Saudi-Israel normalization as the defining prize of a broader postwar settlement in the Middle East, Axios wrote on Sunday. He believed it could “fundamentally reshape the region.”

Graham hoped to reach a deal by January and planned to visit both Saudi Arabia and Israel in the coming weeks. He reportedly made the following joke after he began feeling unwell on Saturday:

"I can't die now. I still need to do the Russia sanctions, get Iran sorted out, and do Israeli-Saudi normalization."

Read more.

If you traveled back in time to last week and told a group of U.S. news followers that a Republican senator would die on Saturday, few would react with surprise. They would all likely assume you were talking about Mitch McConnell, who is in frail health and has been hospitalized for weeks.

McConnell outliving Lindsey Graham is one of the most surprising political developments of this era. The Kentucky senator’s office released a new photo of the 84-year-old and his wife on Sunday, showing him sitting upright in his hospital bed and apparently enjoying the newspaper. Whether he can still comprehend its contents is not known for certain.

McConnell fell in his home in June and has since contracted pneumonia. Video released last week allegedly shows medical personnel loading him into an ambulance after the accident. 

Read more.

Congressman Ro Khanna went to the Middle East last week. During his trip, he says Israeli settlers and the IDF detained him as he visited the West Bank.

The incident occurred on Wednesday. As the congressman visited a Palestinian village that had been abandoned after settler attacks, masked men with guns stopped his group and refused to let them leave. He remained detained until the American embassy in Jerusalem got involved. Israeli soldiers allegedly sided with the terrorists over Khanna’s party.

Consider what this story represents in the big picture. An American member of Congress was threatened by foreign terrorists carrying American rifles, backed by a foreign military paid for by American taxpayers. How could anyone who purports to care about our country consider this acceptable?

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Friday’s newsletter reported that Americans might want to avoid Taco Bell. Some of the fast-food giant’s locations are pulling ingredients amid the spread of a parasite that can cause explosive and watery diarrhea. California is the epidemic’s latest victim.

The Cyclospora parasite has surfaced in the Golden State, and health officials are warning that the official case count likely captures only a fraction of the true number of infections. Across the country, at least 2,944 people in 32 states have been sickened, with Michigan bearing the brunt of the outbreak. Most of California’s infections have been tied to international travel.

The CDC warns that cyclosporiasis can cause severe gastrointestinal issues, including watery diarrhea “with frequent and sometimes explosive bowel movements.” Other symptoms include nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, bloating, fatigue, loss of appetite, and weight loss. As we wrote last week, Taco Bell is not worth that suffering. 

Read more.

Lindsey Graham’s death has made us think about Charlie Kirk. Both men were major figures in the Republican Party, each died while doing what they loved, and both passings came out of nowhere. 

If last week’s preliminary hearing serves as any indicator, then the Utah justice system is definitely going to find Tyler Robinson guilty of Charlie’s murder. Although not yet official, the 23-year-old’s fate seems sealed. But that does not mean the case is fully closed.

The most important question surrounding last September’s assassination is not simply who pulled the trigger. Whether anyone else played a role in the crime is far more important. JD Vance pointed this out on Saturday.

“I’m always going to wonder what was said and how many contacts [Robinson] had beforehand,” the vice president told the Daily Wire. “By the way, it doesn’t mean that [Robinson’s] any less guilty. But do I wonder if there are other people who are more directly involved in Charlie’s murder? Absolutely, because I don’t think that it’s possible for a young man to get radicalized like that without somebody encouraging him, whether informally or formally.”

Vance is spot on. The digital history of alleged Butler shooter Thomas Crooks, which the FBI bizarrely likes to pretend does not exist, strongly suggests that a foreign actor put him up to trying to kill Donald Trump. That does not absolve Crooks of his crime, but it means there is a very strong chance that he did not act alone. He seems to have taken aim at the president at someone else's behest. 

Could the same thing have happened in Utah? Considering Joe Kent says federal law enforcement blocked him from investigating foreign connections to Kirk’s killing, anyone who insists the answer is definitively no likely has something to hide. This trial ending without providing holistic insight into what or who led Robinson to allegedly shoot Charlie would leave key questions unanswered. The American people deserve the entire truth.