Trump remembers his last call with Lindsey Graham the night before his death: Full interview

[0:00] Overnight, the United States lost one of its most influential and consequential senators. [0:06] Lindsey Graham died Saturday evening after what his office called a brief and sudden illness. [0:11] He was 71 years old. Just hours earlier, Senator Graham had returned to Washington from a trip to [0:17] Ukraine. He was scheduled to join us here on Meet the Press this morning for what would have been [0:22] his 64th appearance. He was one of the broadcast's most frequent guests. Instead, this morning, [0:29] we remember a man who served South Carolina for more than two decades, who helped shape America's [0:35] foreign policy, whose voice was a constant presence in our national debate, and whose death has left [0:41] colleagues of both parties in shock. We'll look back at his life, his public service, and his lasting [0:48] impact on the Senate and the country. And to start us off and do that, joining me now on the phone [0:54] is President Donald Trump for reaction to the death of his close friend. President Trump, [1:00] thank you for joining us, and my condolences to you. Well, thank you. He's a tough one to lose. He's, [1:07] he was great. He was unique in every way, actually. He was, Mr. President, and I know that we are all [1:15] just absorbing this news. We are all in shock. Can you tell us, Mr. President, how you received this [1:23] news and your immediate gut reaction when you heard it? So what makes it even stranger is that I got a [1:30] call last night sometime in, you know, the early evening, maybe in the sevens, and he called and [1:37] he said, we're all set for the Save America Act. He was pushing the Save America Act like crazy. He got [1:43] back, said he just landed from Ukraine. I said, that's a long trip to make. He said, he sounded a [1:49] little tired, but perfect, but a little bit tired. I had a right to be. And then he was a worker. He [1:55] was really a worker, but, but he sounded great, actually. But he was, he was, he actually said he [2:01] was tired, but he, he wanted to pass the Save America Act. And I said, well, we're going to get [2:06] it done, Lindsay. We're going to get it done. I'll see you like soon. We thought maybe we might even [2:10] meet today. And then that was it. And that was, you know, very around the time. It couldn't have been [2:17] much longer. I don't, it could have been his last call. I don't know exactly, but I got a message [2:22] about one o'clock in the morning from one of the people at his office that he had passed away. [2:28] I said, you got, I just can't believe it. He was like a member of the family to me. It's very tough, [2:34] actually. It's amazing. Mr. President, he was, he was, he was such an advocate. He was, you know, [2:40] if he, if he wanted to get something and, you know, he had a unique ability. He was able to deal [2:46] with Democrats and Republicans. If I had a problem, a real problem, I wouldn't often ask. [2:51] But if I had a problem with a Democrat, he could work it out. He was a great, he was a great politician, [2:57] actually. He loved his work, Mr. President. I hear you saying that in this final conversation that you [3:07] have emblematic. He was tireless, but it brought him such joy, didn't it? [3:13] There was nobody like him. He loved being a politician and he was going to win his election. [3:21] He was going to win it big. I endorsed him very early and he was going to win it big. [3:25] He had it, just had it made and he just loved being a politician. I said, the reason I'm endorsing [3:32] you is because I got to make sure you win because if you didn't win, I don't think you could handle [3:37] life. I really don't. He, he was a man, you know, there are guys that can lose and they go into [3:41] something else. I can't imagine doing anything else. I said, if you weren't a U.S. Senator, [3:47] I don't know if you could live very long and look what happens. He was going to have a big victory [3:52] and the people loved him. Everybody loved him. Well, no, he had some enemies. He was a tough [3:58] cookie. Don't, don't misunderstand. He was a tough cookie in many ways. If he, if he wanted to get [4:04] something, if he thought he was right and he had people against him, he could be very tough, [4:08] actually. But he was a good person. Mr. President, it is just extraordinary. You just [4:13] spoke with him last night. His office says he passed away from a brief and sudden illness. Are [4:19] you learning any more details about how and why he may have passed? Did he tell you anything in that [4:26] phone call, Mr. President, about not feeling well? No, he said he's a little tired. He, it's a long [4:31] trip, you know, many hours and he had just gotten back. And the, uh, I mean, it must've been right [4:38] after that because I understand the police or whoever it is came there at about seven 30, [4:45] eight o'clock in the evening, something like that. So somebody notified him, but no, he felt okay. I [4:52] mean, I actually, uh, on the, on the call, he told me, Chris, and he said, you know, I feel good, [4:58] but I'm tired. He was fine. I knew him. I knew him well. He would, he would let you know if he [5:04] wasn't feeling well. He, he had days where he didn't feel so well and he'd let you know about [5:08] it. But he was a fantastic person. He, he was a man who you're going to watch. It's going to be a [5:15] very big thing with him. Uh, he's going to be appreciated more now than he was when he was living, [5:21] I think. And just to make that point, I mean, authorities were called to his home [5:29] responding to initial reports of a cardiac arrest. Again, his office saying a brief and sudden [5:36] illness. Do you have any more details? I would think it would be that because when I spoke to [5:42] him, it could have been, you know, minutes before based on, you know, the, based on the fact that [5:47] I heard about the call, whatever time that was, so it was shortly before, but it had to be something [5:53] like that because he was other than being tired, he was fine. And so it had to be something like that, [5:59] that would just be a quick end. And maybe that's not the worst way to go. [6:05] You know, you know, he had some fine moments. His moment on Brett Kavanaugh was one of the classics, [6:09] I think, in the history of the Senate. His moment was literally, I mean, literally one of the great [6:17] classics of, of anyone in the Senate when he defended Brett Kavanaugh so brilliantly. And Brett might not [6:26] have made it except for that. He was, they were treating him very unfairly. Good man. They treated [6:32] him so unfairly. And Lindsay was so angry at the Senate because of it. And he had a really an emotional [6:38] moment. And I think that saved Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court, you know, ascension. He, Lindsay did [6:51] something that he was just so angry at the way Brett was being treated by the Democrats. It was [6:58] so unfair. It was so unfair. I want to ask you more about his legacy. Lindsay got that over. Lindsay did [7:05] a thing there that was, I think nobody else could have done that. Let me ask you a little bit more [7:10] about his legacy. And I know you remember this moment, Mr. President, back in 2015, when he was [7:16] one of your challengers on the campaign trail, the two of you facing off against each other, [7:22] and then he very quickly became one of your staunchest allies, Mr. President. And he frankly, [7:29] never let up in that. No, he never did. Played golf together frequently on the phone together. What [7:35] do you think it is about Senator Graham that allowed him to make that transition from competitor to ally so [7:41] quickly and so forcefully? Well, I got to know Lindsay during the campaign. I didn't really know [7:49] him then. I met him once or twice, but nothing. And I got to know him during the campaign. He was [7:55] tough, but he said, I'll see you in South Carolina. You know, he was, but when I came to South Carolina, [8:02] I won South Carolina by a lot. And I sort of, I sort of ran the table on everybody and it was good. [8:08] And he appreciated it. He respected it. And we sort of got a little bit friendly and it just, [8:14] the friendship grew. It just grew. And he was an amazing advocate. He was, I don't know how you [8:20] find anybody like him. He was so intent. I mean, he literally called me about the Save America Act. [8:27] That's why he's, you know, that's where I heard. Think of it. He's traveling for many, many hours. [8:33] That's a long flight. That's a long trip. And he, you know, calls me about the Save America Act. [8:40] He thought we were going to get it passed. Do you remember the very big, [8:44] this is a big, this is a big blow to the Save America Act. Let me tell you. [8:49] Do you remember, Mr. President, what was the last thing you said to him? What was the last [8:53] thing he said to you? I said, we'll see you soon. Come over anytime you want. He came into [8:59] the White House a lot because I liked him. Can't do that with everybody, but he'd come in a lot. And [9:05] he was a great, like a gauge, a temperature gauge of the Senate. He was somebody that most Democrats [9:13] liked. Some didn't, but most Democrats liked. And just about all of the Republicans liked [9:22] Lindsey. He got along with everybody. And yet he was, he was a tough cookie in a lot [9:27] of ways, but he had a, honestly, he was a great politician. People don't realize what [9:33] a good politician he was. He could, he could go in and get something approved. He would, [9:40] he would just get people on his side. He was really a talented, you know, you probably never [9:45] heard me say that about anybody because, you know, there aren't too many of them. Let me tell [9:49] you. Sometimes you'll meet somebody that had been there for 25 years. You say, how did they stay? [9:54] They're not. This, this man was a great politician. He really got it. [9:58] To that point, Mr. President, it's nearly impossible to think about replacing Senator Lindsey Graham. [10:04] And yet the governor of the great state of South Carolina is going to need to appoint someone on [10:10] an interim basis. There will also be a special election call. Do you have, I know it's only hours, [10:17] but is there someone you think he should appoint? Is there someone you think he will appoint? [10:21] I have somebody that I think would be great, but I don't want to say it now because it just, [10:27] you know, it's too soon with Lindsey. I don't want to even talk about anybody, but I do have [10:31] somebody that I think is really good. The governor is a good friend of mine. I've endorsed him. You [10:36] know, I endorsed him early on and he endorsed me right from the beginning as a person that never did [10:42] this before. In 2016, he came out and very strongly endorsed me. And then I, I made up for it. I [10:49] removed somebody from office that I didn't think was so good, moved her over to the United Nations. [10:54] 95% of that, of my doing that, because the United Nations job was not exactly tough. [11:00] It could be very important, but you know, she was okay at it. But I did it because Henry McMaster [11:06] was the Lieutenant Governor. And by moving her, I got myself a great, really a great guy. Henry [11:14] McMaster has been a really good governor, really good guy. And you know, that, that position cleared [11:20] out and Henry's been a great governor, you know, now he's termed out, but he, he, uh, he's going to [11:26] do the right thing. I think Henry will be fantastic. Remember he endorsed me out of nowhere. He just, [11:31] he said, I like that guy the best. And he, and he campaigned for me with his wife, with Peg. [11:37] He campaigned for me. I'd say, who is that man that's campaigning all the time? I hardly knew him. [11:43] They said, that's the Lieutenant Governor. So they, they have a great governor and he's going to make [11:48] a good decision, but ultimately it's going to be an election pretty soon. As I understand the rules, [11:54] every state is different, but ultimately they'll have an election. They'll have some people joining. [11:58] Some are good. Some are bad. And, uh, but I have somebody that I like, but I'm not going to tell [12:05] you who now because it's too soon. All right. Fair enough. I never thought I'd be in this position. [12:10] Yeah. I said, I thought Lindsay was going to be living forever. I never thought, I never, I said, [12:16] Lindsay, you're going to live forever. And he was going to have a big victory. You know, he was, [12:20] he was scheduled to win by a lot. He had my support and he was scheduled. He was going to win by a lot. [12:26] He was going to have one of his best elections ever. And now he's got, he's got this terrible. [12:33] Well, I, uh, had the great honor of being able to talk to him a couple of times this week, [12:37] Mr. President. And as you can imagine, we talked about a lot of foreign policy. We talked about a [12:42] lot of Iran and in honor of him, I want to still have some of those conversations. Those are the [12:48] conversations he wanted to have here this morning, Mr. President. You obviously launched a fresh round of [12:53] strikes overnight. Iran said overnight, the Strait of Hormuz is closed. CENTCOM came out this morning [13:00] and said the Strait of Hormuz is open. Which is it, Mr. President? And how are you going to respond? [13:05] And I don't want to talk about it because I want to honor the life of Lindsay Graham. So I don't want [13:10] to talk about it. I told you that before the call. Yeah. It's open. We bombed the hell out of them [13:16] last night. They're, uh, very, very evil and sick people. We had meetings with them for the last, [13:23] they agreed to a deal yesterday, a perfect deal for us. No nuclear, no this, no that, [13:28] no nothing. They gave up everything. And then after that, they left the room. And then within an hour, [13:36] they launched a drone at a ship. I said, you people are sick. You're sick people. And so it's one of [13:44] those things. I don't want to talk about it. Finally, before I let you go. I want to talk [13:48] about, I want to talk about one person today, Lindsay Graham. As we should, Mr. President, [13:52] just finally, before I let you go, what is the legacy of Senator Lindsay Graham, Mr. President? [13:59] He's got so many legacies, but one of the legacies is a Supreme Court justice who's excellent named [14:05] Brett Kavanaugh. That's one of the legacies. That's a big legacy because Brett was being treated very [14:10] unfairly. I don't think he could have gotten through without Lindsay's classic. I mean, [14:16] if you go back into the top 10, I think it would be a top 10, a top five in the history of the Senate, [14:22] the emotion, the anger, the love, the whole thing, everything was in that. It was, I called him up. [14:29] I said, that's one of the great classics of all time. He was a great politician. He really was. [14:34] He got along with a lot of people that you wouldn't think of. He was somebody that loved our country [14:40] and he fought very hard for the country. And I know he was going to do your show today. He told [14:44] me I'm doing Meet the Press. Can you believe it? He said, here I am doing Meet the Press for him. [14:51] But he told me last night he's doing Meet the Press. So, you know, but I said, just relax and take [14:59] it easy, Lindsay. He just got back from a long trip, but he was, I thought he was just going to live [15:05] forever and it didn't work out that way. Mr. President, our deepest condolences to you. [15:11] I know that you have lost a friend as well as one of your closest allies. And we deeply [15:18] appreciate your joining us today and giving us your reflections on Senator Lindsey Graham, [15:23] who the nation's capital and the country mourning today. Mr. President, thank you very much for [15:28] your time. Thank you very much, Kristen. Thank you. Thank you. [15:32] We thank you for watching and remember, stay updated on breaking news and top stories on the [15:37] NBC News app or watch live on our YouTube channel.