About the unexpected death of L. Graham reported on Sunday morning Lithuanian time. The news shocked many, as he, although he had just turned 71 years old exactly two days earlier, was one of the most active US politicians.
A man with degrees in psychology and law, who served in the military, was a member of the House of Representatives for eight years, and for more than 23 years until now – a Senator.
On the eve of his death, the Republican returned from an official visit to Ukraine, so internet users rushed to link his health deterioration to this trip.
“The biggest warmonger L. Graham died at the age of 71,” – on Sunday morning, shortly after the first reports of the loss, – announced one Facebook user.
He quoted the politician’s words about the desire to adopt a sanctions package against Russia, which allegedly would give President Donald Trump the means to help end the war. L. Graham also hoped for certain technologies that would increase Ukraine’s military power.
According to preliminary conclusions from the Columbia County Medical Examiner’s Office, he died from an aortic rupture caused by chronic heart disease.
“If we did that and at the same time created measures to punish those countries that support Vladimir Putin and profit from this war, I think we would have the best chance in the past five years, since I have been visiting here, to force V. Putin to sit at the peace negotiation table.”
That was yesterday. Today he is already dead!” – the internet user commented maliciously.
Another Facebook user calculated that the politician died just 24 hours after meeting the “Ukrainian drug lord V. Zelensky” (this user often attaches similar labels to the Ukrainian leader), also resorted to insults of the deceased, calling him a “Russophobe, scavenger, and rare scoundrel”.
“The legendary Zelensky handshake curse works and strikes again without any mercy!” – he declared. The so-called “Zelensky curse” was also mentioned in a video attached to the post.
Another Facebook user mentioned some details from L. Graham’s last visit to Ukraine. There he discussed sanctions against Russia, air defense, and support with V. Zelensky, and visited the drone factory “SkyFall”.
Complained about health
The latter internet user also provided a link to the US daily “New York Post” article about the politician’s death, which does not link the trip to health problems.
It quoted a post from L. Graham’s office on the social network “X” stating that he died on the evening of Saturday, July 11, after a short and sudden illness.
When the senator began complaining of chest pain, emergency responders were called around 8:30 p.m. About half an hour later, the man’s heart stopped, medics began resuscitation, transported him to George Washington University Hospital, but efforts were in vain.
“According to preliminary conclusions from the Columbia County Medical Examiner’s Office, he died from an aortic rupture caused by chronic heart disease,” the newspaper wrote, citing the office’s statement.
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The senator representing South Carolina reportedly had a family history of heart disease – his father, Florence James Graham, died of a heart attack in his late sixties.
According to preliminary conclusions published by the politician’s office, cited by “The Washington Post”, the cause of his death was “aortic dissection due to atherosclerotic heart and vascular disease.” Aortic dissection is a life-threatening condition where the inner layer of the aorta, the body’s main artery, tears.
However, the death certificate will list the cause as “pending” until all toxicological and microscopic examinations are completed. Then the document will be updated, indicating the cause of death and accordingly classifying the nature of death.
Reports from other well-known media outlets about L. Graham’s death (for example, NBC News, BBC, AP, “FOX Carolina”) are consistent – the same cause is mentioned, citing the same official sources (politician’s office, medical information).
Attention is drawn to the fact that the senator had just returned from a visit to Ukraine, but this is not directly linked to health deterioration. There is no mention that the elderly politician, after a long and probably difficult trip, mentioned fatigue or revealed that he heard or saw something that would cause concern; on the contrary, as mentioned, he spoke about upcoming decisions.
However, based on an unnamed source, the portal “Axios” reported that a few hours before his death, L. Graham complained of poor health but at the same time joked about sanctions against Russia and intended to see doctors on Sunday.
“I can’t die now. I still need to impose sanctions on Russia, deal with Iran, and fix relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia,” L. Graham allegedly joked.
Also read: Last words of Lindsey Graham: “I can’t die now”
Sees extraordinary power
Assumptions that the cause of L. Graham’s death was precisely the trip to Kyiv, especially the meeting with V. Zelensky or even his handshake, align with pro-Russian propaganda and coincide with previously spread conspiracy theories.
Also read: Russians go wild over L. Graham’s death: haven’t spoken such horrors for a long time
In recent years, photos circulated multiple times on social networks and elsewhere on the internet showing V. Zelensky shaking hands with various state leaders, other politicians, and officials who at that time were no longer in those positions or were even deceased.
Also read: Remembered the “Zelensky curse”: is his greeting really a bad sign?
Photo galleries were accompanied by comments about the alleged curse – supposedly whoever the Ukrainian leader shakes hands with can expect nothing good. This is just a myth – the president has to meet representatives of other countries and therefore shake hands, and they lost their positions for reasons unrelated to that.
Among these well-known people were former prime ministers of Canada, Germany, Finland, and Estonia Justin Trudeau, Olaf Scholz, Sanna Marin, and Kaja Kallas, several former British government leaders, former US Vice President and presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
These officials indeed lost their positions after meetings with V. Zelensky, but such a sequence in time does not prove causation. Some met with the Ukrainian leader more than once (for example, L. Graham visited this country ten times), so according to this logic, failures should have come sooner.
Also read: Do high-ranking politicians really resign and die because of meetings with V. Zelensky?
Some of them had to step down simply at the end of their term, others faced unfavorable political circumstances (but this was not directly related to Ukraine), and K. Kallas, on the contrary, made a career in Brussels.
Also read: Again explaining that politicians who shook V. Zelensky’s hand face a sad future
15min verdict: lacks context. L. Graham died from a ruptured heart aorta; linking this tragedy to a conversation with V. Zelensky is just a conspiracy theory.
Publication prepared by 15min in cooperation with “Meta”, aiming to stop the spread of misleading news on the social network. More about the program and its rules – here.
