On today's show, we discuss the passing of Lindsey Graham and the vigils being held by Iranians throughout the world. Keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow. We want to hear from you. Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110.
And now, your host, Logan Sekulow. Welcome to Sekulow for your Monday. We're going to be taking your calls at 1-800-684-3110, 1-800-684-3110, as we are obviously covering and mourning the loss of Senator Lindsey Graham, who has been a friend of this show and a friend of our families for many, many, many years, and obviously a very loud figure. In today's political landscape, and has been for decades. At the same time, there have been really interesting developments, including tributes from around the world.
And I mean that literally. You have right now, I mean, just a few hours ago. A candlelight vigil being held. last night in London, In front of Um With members of people from Iran, from the original Iran. who were there paying tribute.
to Lindsey Graham. Dozens of people in front of the U.S. Embassy. with the Lion and Sun flag of Iran. Paying tribute to this man who had become one of their biggest allies and one of their biggest friends.
And I think we need to remember that when you start thinking about the legacy of Lindsey Graham, regardless of what your feed may want to tell you, this is someone who was an international statesman who was doing things to protect American interests, but also for the good of a lot of people around the world. And when you have moments like this, when we have such a divided world, and you have someone like this pass away so tragically and quickly. And you have this happen. Like, if you go and told me that all these options could be. for how people are going to respond.
If you were to tell me there was going to be an Iranian-led vigil. Uh in support or in praise of Their friend, Lindsey Graham. And again, we're talking about the current, we're not talking about the current Iranian regime. We're talking about the historic Iranian regime, people that were from the pre-revolution. This is what's happening right now around the world.
I think that's a cool moment that we need to keep an eye on. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-30110. My dad, Jay Sekulow, is going to be joining us. Jordan, my brother will be joining us from Washington, D.C. at Wilson Studio.
That's right. And when you think about this, this is someone that the ACLJ had worked closely with for years, decades, really. This is an individual, when you think about being in the Senate and how fervently he fought for the unborn, a strong pro-life advocate in the Senate, someone that we could rely on and that we could work with in the Senate for pro-life work that we did here at the ACLJ, as well as his support of Israel in a foreign policy that wanted to see very Reagan-esque peace through strength in a way that is. Divisive even amongst the Republican Party these days, but American leadership he knew was crucial to a peaceful world. This is someone who served for decades in the Air Force and, once again, would come on this broadcast, would talk about the issues, was very close with the ACLJ team, and a lot of the work we did, he saw the fruit of.
And what I will say is a true statesman, the fact that. You can see. How many tributes came in, not just from Republican leaders, but from Democrats who said, You know what? We disagreed on just about everything, but he's actually someone we could work with, who's actually someone who we talked to, who would make us laugh, who would, you know, didn't take things personally, would actually treat things how Washington, D.C. really was built to be treated.
And it was nice to see that there was some humanity left in people. I mean, I look back just a few months ago to when Tulsi Gabbard, our friend and colleague Tulsi Gabbard, when she had to step down from her position as the DNI because her husband. Was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of cancer. And you had people like Adam Schiff taking those moments to then go after her still. To see some humanity coming from the right and the left.
On the passing of Lindsey Graham.
Now again, I'm sure the comments said otherwise. More from human beings, I'd say, more from bots and all of those things online, or the comments, we actually the people that worked with them? were people that universally seemed to enjoy working with him whether they agreed with him or not. Phone lines are open at 1-800-684-30110. We're going to continue talking about this also, these vigils from the Iranians in London for Lindsey Graham, because I think there's some confusion over what's happening there.
I see in the comments, I understand, because it's a headline that kind of messes with your head when you read it. But remember, we're talking about a very different political figure around the world. We'll be right back. Welcome back to Sekulow. We'll be connecting my dad soon, Jay Sekulow, as well.
Will Haynes in studio. Of course, we are talking about the passing, the really untimely and shocking passing of Senator Lindsey Graham, again, who's been a friend to this broadcast, a friend to the ACLJ, and the work we have done for so many years. And again, I know that the comments that came in sometimes can get a little aggressive in terms of Senator Graham. Whenever we would have him on, whenever we discuss him, especially whenever we say something positively about him.
However, I want you to understand that he has been someone that we had worked with so directly for many years and really that my dad and my brother had worked with pretty much every week. And someone that was clearly working up until the last moments of his life here on earth. My dad, Jay Sekulo, is joining us right now. Of course, we are discussing this. And, Dad, we're even seeing this currently in London or last night in London, they were having vigils in front of the U.S.
Embassy with Iranians, you know, essentially Iranian refugees, post families, the old Iran leading a vigil for Lindsey Graham because he is somebody who, though controversial maybe for even some Americans, was highly praised in his work around the world.
Well, and if you want to start here with the United States, we have the strongest and most conservative Supreme Court we've had In my lifetime, and I've litigated since the 1980s at the Supreme Court, and we've got a case there right now. And you could thank Lindsey Graham. for the current Supreme Court of the United States. Of course, you thanked President Trump as well. But the fact is that Lindsay Graham and his advocacy Um for these judicial nominees are the reason we have a conservative Supreme Court today.
Well, and you also think that someone who understood the importance of the office and the role of the Senate, taking the advice and consent role very seriously as a senator, but also being able to work with his colleagues, being able to find ways using the Senate, the mechanisms of the Senate to move things forward, like judicial nominees, something that was very important, we know, for him as well as for the ACLJ, and as well as his role in the foreign policy role of the Senate as well. Just a real statesman and someone that will be missed, but really also a part of that old guard that the Senate, I don't know, there is another Lindsey Graham that understands the mechanisms of the Senate in the way that he did. That's currently serving. Yeah, he was really a historian of the Senate. He understood how the Senate worked, he understood the Senate rules.
He also understood clearly the role of the United States. He believed the United States on a global scale can do good for the world. And that's one of his key motivations. He was just. Dealing right before he passed.
of course, with Russia and Ukraine. But he was also Negotiating with Saudi Arabia for the recognition and establishment of formal. ties to Israel. This was one of his life goals. And he was a passionate advocate for America.
here in the United States and abroad. I want to say this. I I've worked with him starting when he was a congressman. And and in early 2000. Lindsay and I and Lindsay and the ACLJ have had a very Close relationship.
Yeah, I Logan mentioned talking to him every week. I just spoke to him a couple of weeks ago. um before he left for his trip. And This is a tragic loss for his family, of course, and and a loss for the United States. He was a scholar, he was a statesman.
He was our friend. And I I just Wanna emphasize the good. that he did for this country, especially as we look at in our realm in judicial nominations, is unprecedented in our history. He brokered so many deals to get conservative judges confirmed. He saved the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh.
So Lindsay was passionate about American foreign policy too, as you know, and a big defender of Israel. And while they may not be popular with some these days, it's popular with me, and it's popular with the ACLJ. And we saw his work firsthand in bringing stability to the Middle East. He was a defender of the President. I've worked very closely, of course, with him on so many issues.
We spent a lot of time in the White House together. We also spent a lot of time on the Senate floor together during the impeachment. And Lindsey Graham Was a friend. Pay for it. And a leader.
The best of American political leadership. Before we let you go, Dad, I did also want to give you an opportunity too, because not only we say all these positive things about working with him side by side, all the issues that we certainly agreed with him on, You also have an outpouring of Democrats, people that worked on the other side of the aisle. Saying how much they enjoyed working with him, his humor, his wit, and the fact that he could keep things not personal, that it wasn't. like it is today, where it feels like typically you have to have You know, this vitriol towards the other side, towards the other person, and rarely. Do we see a passing of a political leader or any kind of tragedy that happens with a political leader or with somebody?
We mentioned that Adam Schiff's response to when Tulsi Gabbard's husband was diagnosed with cancer and how it was disturbing and how we've lost a little bit of humanity. You saw a glimmer of humanity in the fact that even the Democrats he worked alongside with, which I'm sure was shocking to a lot of their base, came out and said this was someone that they loved and loved working with.
Well, it's because he understood that Politics is the art of the possible. It's not the art of the perfect. and what you have in a situation with Lindsey Graham, he was able to reach across party lines to move the ball further, ultimately to serve the purposes of a conservative constitutional position. But he cut deals for judges. I remember, I mean, I think about the current chief judge of the Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit Bill Prior, and I can go through a whole list of them where we worked so closely with Lindsey Graham, of course, the Supreme Court nominees.
But he was principled, but he did have a great sense of humor. And he's going to be missed. He was one of the good guys. I said that to mom yesterday. He is one of the good guys.
We lost a friend. You know, the country lost a senator. The representatives, the people of South Carolina lost a senator. We've lost a statesman. We've also lost a friend here.
And he served this country honorably in the military as a judge advocate general, a military lawyer. He was also a military judge. He served in active combat zones. He loved the country and And what you're seeing is the country loved him. There will always be the naysayers, but I'm tuning that out to the reality that this was a guy that reshaped.
The judiciary in the United States and help our foreign policy on a global scale.
So it was actually nice to see. It was actually nice to see his response. Of course, a lot of us will miss him, but you guys both, obviously, you and Jordan both worked with him directly very often. We also know, for those who are following it, they will make an announcement later today on who will be the replacement, likely. And what's looking like it will be actually be Lindsey Graham's sister.
Temporarily, obviously, until next term. There will be an election coming up here in the future. That's right. And we can actually go over that for folks that are interested, that want to know how that process works, because Senator Graham was up for reelection. This would, I believe, be his fifth term if he were re-elected in the Senate.
And so it's a calendar now that you're running up against November. But what it does appear is that Governor Henry McMaster will be announcing today at 4 p.m. Eastern Time who that person. Person will be who will be filling the seat because that is, once again, the governor, when a senator is no longer in office, whether they resign or they pass away, normally it varies by state law, but the governor or someone within that state can appoint to serve out the rest of a term. That's what we're seeing here.
It appears that will be announced at 4 p.m. Eastern. As well as the President, President Trump has said that he would like to see Lindsey Graham's sister, who is very close with, if you know the history. Their parents died when they were young, both of them within like 18 months of each other. And Lindsey Graham effectively raised his sister.
So they were very close and that there has been a call from the President that it be her to be in the interim to hold that seat. It also holds the staff together. It has continuity until the election. And then it also isn't a political kingmaker system where the governor is then picking who is the frontrunner in a primary. Yeah, if anything, that's a nice tribute for a few months till people can get everything together before the election.
I think that's a great idea. Thanks, my dad, for joining us. Jordan's going to be joining us coming up a little bit later. Mike Pompeo will be joining us. We are going to cover some other topics as well.
There is some other breaking news items that are happening. And the ACLJ rolls on. You know, again, Senator Graham was a longtime friend, and we appreciate his life. We appreciate the legacy that he left, and we will continue to talk about that. A lot of those issues he cared about, a lot of the issues that we care about here, we continue to fight for each and every day.
We are in the middle of our ACLJ Liberty Drive. I want you to be a part of it today while donations are doubled throughout. the rest of the month.
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continues on, including what's happening in Iran. I believe, is Mike Pompeo joining us next? Mike Pompeo is joining us in the next segment to talk, one, about the news that we are covering today, the loss of Senator Graham, but as well, there is some news we wanted to update people on when it comes to the straight of Hormuz in Iran and some things that the President has announced over the weekend.
So we will be asking him about that when we get back from this break. Yeah. And again, my brother will also be joining us a little bit later.
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Welcome back to Sekulow. We're going to take your calls at 1-800-684-3110. We're hearing from my dad, and now we're going to hear from Secretary Pompeo. Secretary Pompeo, obviously, we're going to get into what's going on, some of the updates in Iran, all of that. But then you even have these vigils happening in London with Iranians out front, actually, you know, who are there, refuge, you know, essentially families that have not been in Iran for many years.
Having a vigil for Lindsey Graham. And here's a moment that we all did not expect we were going to do this show this morning, that this is what we were going to be talking about here. Because we're all shocked, obviously, by the news of Senator Graham's passing. You wrote an op-ed for the New York Post. I just want to get your thoughts on the days like today.
Yeah. No, I I guess I'm unsurprised. That many in the world who understood or understand the difference between good and evil. are feeling very much a loss, a hole in our hearts today. I've known Senator Graham for goodness, I've known him for probably 15 years.
He had become a friend when I was a brand new member of Congress. He was so kind to me. He was a great assistance to me when I was the Secretary of State and CIA Director. But everyone who knew him, right? He was always fun to be around, those pictures you're showing, right?
He's always smiling. But this was a serious political actor. This was someone who cared deeply about the United States of America, who took his job so seriously and worked so diligently. He'll be missed. He knew how to make America great again and worked at it all his life.
Mr. Secretary, you even bring up that how he was a great help to you when you were a freshman member of Congress. I mean, we remember those days. You joined this broadcast back in the early days as a congressman from Kansas. And I think that's also a testament.
You even see from people on the other side of the aisle. There was a tribute by Corey Booker, who went and approached him when he was a junior senator, had just gotten into office and said, you know, I want to work on something with you. And he said, well, wait till after my primary. It's a little contentious. I can't be seen talking to you.
But the willingness to listen to people or also shepherd them and, regardless of their politics, be there as a figurehead, a leader in the institutions of government, something that he knew so well, I think is also going to be something that we greatly miss here when we see this tragic passing and untimely. Passing, but it's the institutional knowledge that he had and his willingness to work with whether it be young congressmen or young senators in the process of government. You know, it's so easy to tear down these institutions, to talk bad about Congress or talk bad about the Senate. You know, Senator Graham never did that. He would joke about it, but he understood that these institutions mattered, that our founders, but he took deeply that idea that our founders had it right.
And he so loved being a part of it. He wasn't, you know, Lindsay could find a camera for sure, but it wasn't all about Lindsay. It was always about the things he cared about and the things he truly believed mattered to America. He and I, frankly, on Iran, we were brothers in arms. We understood this threat from the Islamic Republic in exactly the same way.
But there were other issues we didn't always see eye to eye on. But he was always gracious, always kind, and always willing to sort of listen, take on Mike's views of the world, and have an intellectual debate about it. And I think that's why you see folks from a broad political spectrum saying we're going to miss that set, that voice, that concept on Capitol Hill. I hope others will take that on and see how much Senator Graham has appreciated and begin to behave in a way that he did. Always fierce in defending the things he believed in, but always caring so deeply about the institutions and about our country.
Well, and you even bring up the fact that you and he shared a very much similar vision for what the threat is and the acknowledgement from the Islamic Republic of Iran, as well as other threat factors to the United States and national security issues. But I think that is one thing that. will miss also is the fact that he was so close with the President. And it wasn't always that their views of foreign policy were in lockstep, but they were very close. He would, and you saw through this the jousting that maybe would take place between a senior senator from South Carolina as well as the President of the United States.
Many times you ended up with better foreign policy because of the contrasting views and that friendship. I think that's something that we also. will miss in a world that's turning away even within the party sometimes of a lot of the concepts of peace through strength and that Reaganesque style that Senator Graham had. Yeah, I don't think there's any doubt about that. You know, I've seen some on the left showing some of the comments that Senator Graham made during President Trump's campaigns for President.
Not always the kindest in the sense of he had a view, Senator Graham had a view of how the world works and how evil works. And when he would see the President behaving in a way that was different from that, he was unapologetic in defending his view. But man, he could have gone full, like somebody did, he could have gone full Trump derangement syndrome and just been an adversary, but he knew America mattered too much. And he knew President Trump had the capacity to get to a place where everyone could say, yep, that's the right outcome. And you nailed it.
As a result of what Senator Graham did alongside President Trump, my son and his wife and my grandson are safer today because of that. And I think in the end, that effectiveness, that ability to actually deliver on the things he believed in, will be the true legacy for Senator Graham.
Someone else who serves country in the military beforehand, the Air Force, spent a lot of time beyond even just the political realm. I think for you, Secretary Pompeo, it's something that I would say that I was. You know, you don't want to say um You know, excited to see, but there was some sort of breath of fresh air that came in, seeing that there were tributes coming in from both sides of the aisle here. And that is so rare. Right now, we are living in a time where that is the option.
You don't see even Democrat leaders or Republican leaders saying something positive. uh or telling a warm story. about someone on the other side. It's sad that that's not the case. But there was a glimmer, a glimmer of hope, if you will, When I saw some of these tributes coming in, now don't read the comments because you're going to have people who are crazy on all sides.
But if you just looked at the people who actually worked with him. You saw this united front of going, I mean, even if they had the caveat with, we never agreed on anything. But at least, you know, again, he'd make me laugh. We enjoyed working together. That is how this is all supposed to be.
Yeah. No, I think that's right. And you know, in each of those, I think you're exactly right. In each of those, not only sometimes they caveat it by saying we didn't agree on everything. And sometimes they'd say they made him laugh, but it was more than that.
They would also say he worked with us. He tried to listen to our views and he was excoriated, right? He ended up in a bad place on immigration and with some inside of our party. He voted for Democrat nominees to the United States Supreme Court.
So he was criticized for those things, but he was someone who took on board and he took these institutions seriously. And so I think these kind words go even deeper than the fact that he was able to bring joy and cheer. It was he was thoughtful and decent and good and was prepared to fight on the things that really mattered and find common ground on things where it was possible to do.
So I hope we'll see more of that. It's not about giving up the things you really believe in. It's about staring at the problem set and saying, how do we get to the best solution? I always found that to be interesting. Thank you, Secretary Pompeo, for joining us.
But he was one of those people. Who would say, you know, elections have consequences. The President would put up a Supreme Court justice. Are they qualified, whether I agree with them or not? As long as they were qualified.
They felt like they're right. It didn't matter necessarily his political point of view. And I felt that to be something we should all be thinking about, at least when they're making those calls.
So I appreciate it. Thank you, Secretary Pompeo, for being a part of the conversation today. We are going to continue on with the second half hour of the show. We're all going to address some other topics as well. I know not all of you are tuning in just to hear about this, but.
We have people on staff. Or the Secretary Pompeo, or my dad, or my brother. you know, who worked with this man for decades on a weekly basis.
So of course we're going to have a minute here or we're going to spend talking about Be a part of the ACLJ today as well as part of our Liberty Drive. You can do it. All donations are doubled today at aclj.org/slash liberty. You scan the QR code you see. We'll be back second half hour coming right up.
Um Yeah. Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever. This is Sekulow. And now your host, Logan Sekulow. Welcome back to Sekulow, second half hour of the show.
Phone lines are open for you right now, by the way. 1-800, wide open. 1-800-684-3110. If you want to call in, you can call in. We're happy to take discussions about any of the topics that we are discussing today, whether that's an update of what's going on in Iran, whether we're talking about Senator Graham.
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So do it today at aclj.org. Be a part of the Liberty Drive. I know there's a lot more, Will, we want to discuss here, though, as well. And Jordan will be joining us coming up here shortly. That's right.
We also are going to talk about the process here, what it looks like to replace the senator. And that is going to be announced actually by the governor, Henry McMaster, this afternoon at 4 p.m. Eastern Time. We are going to hear who will be the person to fill that seat at least through the end of the term.
Now, there was an election in November. Lindsey Graham was up for re-election. What we are going to see now. is a special primary election. For that November general election race.
That will be held on August 11th. Candidates have can start filing their paperwork to run for that special election July 21st.
So just about a week away, a little bit under a week. And then they have a filing period of one week until July 28th. Special election will be held august eleventh. And if no candidate that has filed reaches the fifty percent threshold of the vote, there will be a runoff two weeks later on August twenty fifth.
So a very condensed time line for individuals that It was considered a safe seat. He does not have. A lot of challenge that's kind of that seat that no one was really thinking passed Lindsey Graham at this point because he was such an active member, such a senior member of the Senate, that it is going to be a scramble within South Carolina. And we'll see how the party handles that as these deadlines fast approach. I mean, July 21st, they can start filing their paperwork to run, and they only have one week to get it all in.
We'll see what happens there. And we may discuss that a little bit with Jordan as well in the next segment. That's right. Jordan will be joining us live from Washington, D.C. and our studios there.
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Support this show. Support our legal work at aclj.org. Or skate the QR code. We'll be right back with my brother Jordan. Welcome back to Sekulow.
We've heard from my dad, we've heard from Rick, or we're going to hear from Rick Rinnell coming up here, I believe, in the next segment. We've heard from Secretary Pompeo.
Now, we're joined by my brother, Jordan Sekulow, who is in Washington, D.C. in our studios. And just arrived. Just arrived there with pre-scheduled to be there for a lot of different meetings and things happening. But, Jordan, of course, we wanted to have you on as someone, including dad as well, who has been working with Senator Graham for so many years, and the tributes are pouring in, and we need to make sure that we did it as well.
Yeah, I mean, listen, I thought back on our time in Washington, D.C., the ACLJ's really expansion into government affairs. Of course, we've always been involved in the federal courts and the U.S. Supreme Court by our office here, but really getting involved in the work in Congress and the television broadcast we do on TBN and those shows where it would be Congressman Graham, Lindsey Graham, who would be joining us. And then when we started broadening out this broadcast, I remember in the first set in this studio, having Senator Graham here with us in that studio. And that was a relationship that continued from his time in the House of Representatives through his passing this weekend.
He was someone that we'd be on the phone with, and our team would be working with his office regularly, whether it was, as people have said, judicial nominations, foreign policy, the work on Israel. And I go back to judicial nominations because people talk about the Supreme Court, but Senator Graham was also key on making sure. The courts that are so important, they hear 99.9% of the cases, those appellate courts and district court nominees that those get through. And he was excited about, again, chairing the Judiciary Committee upcoming once again. And so, again, it's a huge loss.
For not just the Republicans in the Senate, and for those of us who worked closely with Senator Graham and his team, obviously that's a huge loss. But it's a huge loss for the country because, as I said, Logan, in text to you and to Will, to Dad, Lindsay, Senator Graham represented what it meant to be a statesman and that he could take. Very tough positions. He wasn't going to back down on his positions, but he was able to build bridges and get things done in Washington, D.C., when no one else could. And I remember that going back even to the Bush years on some of those judicial nominations when they looked like they were totally stalled.
And now, those people I think about it have been there 20-plus years because the work Lindsey Graham did with Democrat senators to make sure these good conservative nominees at the time, now long-term judges at the appellate courts, got through the confirmation process.
Well, and Jordan, I think it's also important as we bring that up. He also understood the process of the Senate so well. The world's greatest deliberative body is what the Senate is referred to. And I think what we're losing so much as we see new members of the Senate join and these younger individuals that have now been in the Senate for a while that are maybe Republican or Democrat, regardless, there isn't as much emphasis on that deliberative style in the younger members of the Senate as it was with the Lindsey Grahams of the Senate. And in reality, He understood that is how you get things done in the Senate.
It isn't the same as the House for a reason. And that was designed by the founders. He truly understood that. And I think that also shows with his relationship with the President. That was someone who ran against President Trump for President, and yet was able to, despite all of the policy disagreements, Became one of his closest allies in the Senate because he understood that in America, you can get things done when you talk and when you deliberate things.
And he was proof of that in his work in the Senate with the President. And listen, became one of his closest friends as well. I mean, he was someone that I think was a great. A year for President Trump. It was a great person for President Trump to talk to.
And I know those calls were happening a lot. And it was because of that process, being able to say, okay, but this is what we've got to do to move this through the Senate. And if you look back in time, too, as much as people say, you know, they'll kind of say he was a chameleon in politics. First of all, when you have that long of a political career, some of your positions are going to change. I mean, that's just the bottom line truth.
And that happens with everybody. But second, he's a team player. You look back in history, and unlike some of these Republicans who try to act like, oh, I'm the most conservative, I'm the most Republican, but they're the ones who are actually kind of attacking the Presidents when they happen to be Republican. You know, it's easy for everybody to be in the opposition. But when everybody's trying to actually get things done, Lindsey Graham decided as part of his career that if the American people elected Donald Trump to be President, I'm going to do what I can to get him and his policies through the U.S.
Senate. And that's exactly what we would see. And so, I mean, it's huge personal loss. I can't even really imagine that we're talking about it, Will, as Lindsey Graham is gone. It's really hard to even.
Fully accept that yet. And so I think that'll take some time in Washington, too. I know we're already talking about how that replacement process works. But I will tell people: I mean, when I first saw the news alert, it was kind of middle of the night, depending on where you are in the country. I thought maybe something had been hacked or sent out.
Maybe I was reading the wrong name. And I was like, I couldn't believe because I knew he had just had those meetings in Ukraine and just gotten back to Washington, D.C. And again, just a reminder to all of us, you never know when your time is up here on this part of our journey. But you know what? At that point, he did everything he could and he fought for the last hours of his life for the people he represented.
Yeah, like working to the last minute. You also spend a lot of time in South Carolina, and I know that it is a different understanding of how he is even liked or was liked locally in South Carolina, very different than even we see him on a national scale. When you talk about him running for reelection, this comes, like as Will said, this was not a contested election. People kind of knew Lindsey was pretty locked in for it. Yeah, I mean, listen, people have tried before in the past in the Republican primary to try to take him on and say he's not conservative enough.
And the truth is, when you look at his record, he's got an absolutely conservative record.
Sometimes he takes positions that are slightly different than the mainstream Republicans. But the truth is, in South Carolina, he was beloved. He was someone who did a lot for his constituents. That's why I was just saying, you can kind of start seeing it, Logan, I think that's what you're referring to, people like Senator Graham who are on national television almost every night. And so you kind of start thinking of them as national leaders.
But you have to remember they get elected by South Carolina and South Carolinians. And so you've got to make sure those people are not re-electing you for decades in the House and the U.S. Senate if you're not a good representative of the people of South Carolina and you're not able to bring business home. You're not able to be impactful for them. And so I think that the fact that he was someone that no one would even think about not being able to be re-elected.
Says a lot right there. I mean, it says almost everything you need to know right there. And that, again, beloved by his constituents, beloved in Washington, D.C., had a great staff, a loyal staff, some great long-term staff as well. And it's just really sad to see him go. It's someone who I was imagining would be here for, you know, another decade or two.
Jordan, the other thing that obviously is now faces even the people of South Carolina is we see the governor will announce this afternoon who will fill that seat until January, until the new senator is sworn in. There's this very abbreviated timeline. July 21st is when candidates can start filing. July 28th, that period closes.
So just a week to get your paperwork in. And then there's a election on August 11th. And if someone doesn't get 50%, there's a runoff for the top two candidates on August 25th. Still plenty of time to campaign for a general election in November. There's a lot of chatter.
The President suggested that Lindsey Graham's sister be filling that seat. There's some chatter within South Carolina, some of the insiders, political insiders there, that that is indeed who the governor is looking at appointing as a caretaker, just to hold the seat, continuity of office and staff. This abbreviated timeline, what are your thoughts on that? As it's going to be now a fight within a state that has very contentious politics. Yes, it's a tough political state.
That's what was interesting about Senator Graham, he had kind of moved past that. Politically. And so it's Senator Scott to some extent as well. I mean, I think once you got to the Senate there and you were past your second term, things were a little different. But getting there, very tough roads.
And listen, there's some tough politicians. There was just a gubernatorial primary. The lieutenant governor who was in the runoff with the Attorney General, Alan Wilson. Alan Wilson ended up winning the runoff there. But she is someone who, again, she just had a full campaign operation.
And so she could be someone I could see going into this race, not as the caretaker. I think that could be someone like, again, Sindra Graham's sister, someone like that. But you also look at Nancy Mace has supposedly already talked about. This is someone who also has got a campaign.
So I would imagine, Will, it's going to be people who either already have a campaign kind of in place, who have been in politics before, or can put together the money quickly enough to run a general election for a statewide seat. And there's There's only a handful of people that can do that quickly enough. All right, well, thank you so much for joining us, Jordan. We'll continue this discussion going on in the next segment. Rick Rinnell's going to be with us, so don't want to miss that.
Jordan's got a lot going on in Washington, D.C., as our team again. Very active even during these summer months. Traveling all over the globe. If you see that there are times where I'm not here, Jordan's not here, Rev's not here.
Sometimes that's vacation, but sometimes that is because work calls. Around the world, and the ACLJ team is hard at work. I see our media team, they're headed off today. out of our studios here in Nashville. Good undisclosed.
shooting location for something they're gonna put together for you guys to all see. Because again, all of this happens, and those plane tickets, everything happens because of you.
So I encourage you to go to aclj.org, have your donation doubled today during our Liberty Drive. Welcome back to Sec Killer. Waiting for Rick Rinnell to connect. Just let me know when we are good to go. We're good.
Rick, obviously, we're having a lot of guests on today because there have been an outpouring. And I think one of the. You know, most sort of weird moments in all of this, but maybe one of the more heartening moments of this is you have seen people from all sides of the aisle. Where typically we have seen tributes come in for political leaders from one side and the other side has to take their jabs. At this moment, and sure, we've seen some from some maybe some wild influencers or from people in the comments, but you've seen a lot of people come together saying they enjoyed, even if they disagreed with him, they really enjoyed working with this man.
I know you wanted to pop on as well, talk about Senator Graham. Yeah, look, I think every single person in America knows that they don't agree with. People in their family. They don't agree with their spouse. They don't agree with their priest or their pastor.
I mean, it's really the reality is that unless. If you want to agree with somebody 100% of the time, then you're the candidate, you're the politician. And so I think that when humans, Recognize the moment. And again, we don't have a lot of humans in Washington, D.C. I think that's the shocking part, right?
It tends to be a place devoid of humanity. But the rest of us, you know, we can feel saddened. We can talk about friendships, but we don't have to go into all of the areas that we disagree when there's a death. I actually thought that Amy Klobucher really started us off in a good way. She had a heartfelt tweet that was all positive about Lindsey Gramps, you know, his humor and his ability to bring people together.
And I think that's the Lindsey Graham that I know, which is he's going to be passionate and he's going to be direct, but he's also going to listen and he might change his mind, he may not. But at the end of the day, he's going to say, let's go to dinner and how's your family? And he's old school. You know, I used to work for John Danforth, who is a great senator from the state of Missouri. for a long time, eighteen years there.
And he once told me a story. He said, you know, Washington DC is a place where senators get their doors opened all of the time. And after a little while, they believe the door is always open and sometimes they run smack into it because it wasn't opened. And I think that is indicative of what we see in Washington of people who don't understand common sense and humanity. But this moment with Lindsey Graham, I think, has really been shockingly good from both sides of the aisle.
Well, and I think as well, when you have someone who lived as a statesman and served the country as a statesman, yes, you are going to start to see good humanity again from a culture that has become so toxic. But this is a senator who served 33 years in the Air Force, retired as a colonel.
So he served his country in the armed forces, then was a congressman, and then had a career as a senator. And a fact that is very rare, I think, in DC is he had one of the lowest net worths of any elected official because his entire life was built on service. As well as not exploiting the office for personal gain, as unfortunately is easy to do when you are in a position of power like that. And I think that things like this shouldn't be lost on people today as we see even around the world. We started the show that the Iranian diaspora in London was holding a candlelight vigil in front of the U.S.
Embassy for Senator Graham. That's a testament to a life of service, whether you agreed with his policies 100% or not. Yeah, look, I think there's a lot of countries that have individuals who really, whether it's Ukraine or Iran, and I can think of some other places that really valued Lindsey Graham's strong voice. But look, I met Lindsey when he was a congressman from South Carolina back in the 90s. I've known him for 30 years.
And I just have to say one point that if he were here and listening to this conversation, he would be making fun of the fact that he's not perfect. He'd talk about all the times that he wasn't perfect. And, you know, he lost his temper sometimes. He was a real person. And I don't think that we should make him into the perfect angel because he certainly wasn't.
But this is a moment where I think we can talk about the good. Not, you know, we have to recognize that he was a human being. And sometimes I would get into big, deep arguments with him about how I felt like he was too much of a neocon and didn't do diplomacy enough. But that was my friend. I could talk like that to my friend.
And at the end of the day, he was somebody who listened and was a great friend first. He loved Washington, he loved the Senate, and he loved politics.
Well, and I think that as well, loving the Senate, that is one of the things we've talked about over and over today is that the Senate is a unique body, and it's known as the greatest deliberative body in the world. We've strayed from that, but I think it was lions like him in the Senate that held to that tradition. And why? I think that would upset people sometimes, because he would talk to people. He would use the opportunity to share ideas and to joust with each other in a way that senators should be able to.
And I think we've lost something greatly with his no longer being a senator for the United States. Yeah, I agree. It's a big loss. And it does feel, for those of us outside of Washington, it does feel like it's impacting. I was at the gym this morning and somebody came up to me and just said, hey, I know that you knew Lindsey Graham.
I'm sorry for your loss. And I was like, wow, that's an impact of somebody who is not political. Uh recognizing the moment. Rick, thank you so much for joining, popping on today. I appreciate it.
I know it was the last second to have you on, but I think it was important to hear from people who worked directly with them, friends and colleagues, and we appreciate it.
So, thank you so much for popping on. I did want to take a quick call before we wrap up this show. We have Kevin who's calling as an ACLJ champion. You can become a champion today, too, during our Liberty Drive. Your first donation will be doubled.
Go ahead, Kevin. Hey, thanks for taking my call, guys. Two points I want to make. Number one, Lindsey Graham's significance will indeed be lost, but this should be a call to other senators to step up. Take his place.
Assume his passion. We need more help, more good people like him. The second point I want to make is this. There are so many curious parallels going on in the world right now. If you read the Bible, you'll understand what the prophecies have been for millennia.
Perhaps God has taken Lindsay home Because he doesn't want this positive influence. He's going to let the chip fall where they will. Things are not going well. Kevin, I think we believe in a providential God and that nothing happens outside of his will. But I think that we also need to pray for his family that is grieving right now.
And that, once again, pray for our country. I think you brought up: you know, there's a chance that today you'll find out that. Senator Graham's sister will be at least temporarily holding his position.
Well, what does that look like if you're his family? You know, specifically, we know their history. We talked about it. Essentially, it was a father figure. in her life after they both lost their parents very young age.
So what does that look like being asked to do this in a moment of grief, in a moment of shock?
So say a prayer for his family, for sure. You know, I believe that we all are here for a reason and that the plans are set in motion. But you could be a part of that. You know. Say a prayer.
support his family if needed, support those who are are grieving Regardless of their politics. And I don't mean that outside of just Senator Graham. I mean that for anybody. And we need to be there for each other. That's going to wrap up today's show.
I appreciate everyone who listened, everyone that watched, all of our guests today: Rick, Mike, my dad, my brother. Me and Will in here and all of you that called in. and for all of you that are supporting the work right now during our Liberty Drive. Let's just keep this QR code up for the rest of the show, which is only about 20 seconds.
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