Trump Calls in to Meet the Press to Honor to Lindsey Graham: ‘Tough One to Lose’

President Donald Trump called in to Meet the Press, Sunday, to pay tribute to Lindsey Graham hours after his shocking death.

Speaking with Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker, the president was effusive in his praise of the late senator.

“He’s a tough one to lose,” Trump said. “He was great. He was unique in every way, actually.”

Trump revealed he had spoken with Graham on Saturday night, just prior to his passing.

“So what makes it even stranger is that I got a call last night — sometime in the early evening, maybe in the sevens — and he called and he said, ‘We’re all set for the SAVE America Act,'” Trump said. “He was pushing the SAVE America Act like crazy. He got back, said he just landed from Ukraine. I said, ‘That’s a long trip to make!’ He sounded a little tired, but perfect. But a little bit tired. He had a right to be, he was a worker. He was really a worker. But he sounded great, actually. He actually said he was tired. But he wanted to pass the SAVE America act. And I said, ‘Well we’re gonna get it done, Lindsey. We’re gonna get it done.’ … We thought maybe we might even meet today. And then that was it…It could’ve been his last call, I don’t know exactly. But I got a message about one o’clock in the morning from one of the people in his office that he had passed away. I said, ‘I just can’t believe it!’ He was like a member of the family to me.”

Trump went on to praise Graham’s political skills, telling Welker that if he ever had “a real problem” with Democrats, Graham would “work it out” for him.

Welker asked if Trump had any details on Graham’s death — noting that “authorities were called to his home responding to initial reports of a cardiac arrest” and that Graham’s office, in a statement, called the cause of death “a quick and sudden illness.”

“I would think it would be that,” Trump told Welker. “Because when I spoke to him, it could have been minutes before, based on the fact that I heard about the call, whatever time that was. So it was shortly before. But it had to be something like that, because other than being tired, he was fine. And so it had be something that would just be a quick end. And maybe that’s not the worst way to go.”

Watch above, via NBC.

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