Trump says Lindsey Graham was 99.9 out of 100 after his death at 71 because of 'one bad moment'

The president has rated the late Lindsey Graham 99.9 out of 100 citing 'one bad moment' that occurred between the two before the senator died following a 'brief and sudden' illness.

Graham's family announced his death in a heartbreaking statement on Saturday (July 11) prior to a preliminary investigation into his death, which found that the 71-year-old likely died after suffering a tear in the wall of his aorta, a condition linked to Arteriosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease.

In an interview with NBC at the weekend, Trump claimed to have spoken to the politician just hours before his death, as he said: "He actually said he was tired, but he wanted to pass the SAVE America Act, and I said, 'Well, we’re going to get it done, Lindsey. We’re going to get it done. I’ll see you, like, soon.'"

But speaking just yesterday (July 14) with Fox & Friends, the president gave the late senator a 'rating' out of 100, claiming that while 'a lot of people are at 100, he did have that one little moment'.

Trump gave the late senator a score out of 100 in the wake of his death. (SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images)

Trump recalled: "He had one bad moment and that was when the Jan. 6 thing, when he stood up and said 'alright, now I’ve had it, that’s it, I can’t do it anymore'."

As he added: "And then he called me about 40 minutes later and said, 'Did I really say that? I can’t believe it.' And he took it back. So I give him a 99.9 instead of 100."

Thousands of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2025, in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying the 2020 election results and reverse Trump's election loss.

And Graham was one of the Republicans who turned against Trump as the party's leader at the time.

Lindsey Graham was long a vocal critic of Trump. (Vitalii Nosach/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)

In a speech following the events that unfolded, the senator for South Carolina said: "Trump and I have - we've had a hell of a journey. I hate it to end this way. Oh my god, I hate it.

"From my point of view, he’s been a consequential president. But today, first thing you’ll see, all I can say is count me out - Enough is enough."

But it wasn't the first occasion that Graham had called President Trump out.

The 71-year-old was previously a vocal critic of Trump, branding him a 'race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot' in 2015.

The next year, during the 2016 presidential election, he added: "If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed... and we will deserve it."