U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., died on July 11, 2026, after a "brief and sudden illness" and after serving more than three decades in Congress. According to The Associated Press, Graham suffered a tear in his aorta.
After the senator died, President Donald Trump gave a series of interviews to the media discussing his friendship with the 71-year-old senator.
Russian state-owned media outlet RT News shared a purported quote from one such interview, in which Trump allegedly said part of Graham's body "literally blew up."
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Credible news media reports say Graham returned from Ukraine just hours before he died.
In short, Trump did make the statement in a July 13, 2026, televised phone interview with Newsmax, a right-leaning news media outlet. As such, we rate this claim a correct attribution.
Medical examiners reportedly said Graham's death was a result of a rare and life-threatening tear in his aorta, the largest artery in the human body. Such a tear can disrupt critical blood flow. Dr. John Trahanas, a cardiac surgeon, was quoted by CNN as saying that, in such a case, all the layers of the aorta can tear at once which "basically is like your heart exploding." Trump was likely referring to this particular condition when he made his statement.
Trump's remark came in response to Newsmax anchor Greg Kelly asking whether Russia may have played a role in Graham's death. Below, we have reproduced the passage of Kelly's question and Trump's reply in its entirety (emphasis ours):
KELLY: I saw [Graham] in Ukraine on his way back. We all saw the video. He didn't look so hot. I'm told by those who know him. Maybe he looked a little off. He was tired. Look, the Russians, they have a habit of poisoning people they don't like. And Lindsey Graham once once called for Putin to be taken out. Do you have any suspicions or worries? Do you think we know the whole story about his death?
TRUMP: Well, I think we do. We've had great doctors and they talked about, you know, a certain part of his body literally blew up. And that's a condition I believe his father had, also. His father died very, very young from heart complications and that's what Lindsey had. And it's something that's, number one, is very tough to see. And even if you see it, it's hard to fix, very hard to fix. And, you know, he had a problem with arteries and I thought he was like a 70% blockage. I said, "Lindsey, you're going to have to go and take care of that."
But this was not that problem. This was a different problem that wasn't really related. So he called me and I said, "How are you doing?" He just got back from Ukraine. He was a worker. I tell you, he was always someplace. And he loved it, though, he really loved it. He was good. He was really a great politician, actually. But he just got back and I said, "How are you doing?" And he said, "Well, I'm doing good but I'm tired." And within, you know, a short period of time after that call, he was gone. Amazing, actually.
But he was, I don't think, you know, just to answer the conspiracy theory, I don't know. I'd love to say yes, but I think he had some problems and a very, very difficult, and his father died just about at the same age from, you know, I'm a believer in the racehorse theory. You know, if you have problems, you have problems. And he had some problems that were a little bit deep seated and not easy to find.
Trump made the specific comments in question at the 1:06 mark in the Newsmax YouTube clip below.
Snopes has covered numerous other rumors about Lindsey Graham.