Officials from the U.S. and around the globe gathered today to remember the life of South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham — one of Washington’s most deft political operators and fiercest hawks. Two critical meetings at the White House today will offer a preview of how that legacy will — or won’t — unfold. The late senator and Air Force veteran, who unexpectedly died earlier this month, was the loudest voice in a dwindling chorus of Republicans who support foreign intervention — and a key advocate in Trump’s ear as the party’s anti-interventionist wing gained power, from the rank-and-file to the White House. He was also a friend and ally to Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The two leaders both traveled to Washington for Graham’s funeral and held meetings with President Donald Trump at the White House to discuss two ongoing wars — which Graham held intense interest in as he consistently championed U.S. intervention. Graham’s support for U.S. aid to Ukraine put him at natural odds with much of the MAGA wing of the GOP — especially VP JD Vance, who partly built his political brand around sharp criticism of Ukraine and a staunchly isolationist foreign policy stance more broadly. In remarks at Graham’s memorial today in the Capitol Rotunda, Vance recalled an “intense argument” he once had with his former Senate colleague about Ukraine funding during a lunch — but despite that disagreement, Graham was still the “fiercest advocate” for Vance’s rail safety bill, the VP said. “I choose to remember Lindsey Graham as a man who could disagree with you without being disagreeable,” Vance said. “I choose to remember Lindsey Graham as a person who could fight with you on one issue but fight for you on another issue. I remember Lindsey Graham as a man who loved people — and because he loved people, he was willing to reason with them, to respect them, and, ultimately, to persuade them.” Graham’s death is a major blow for Zelenskyy, who may have trouble finding another such advocate in Washington with as much access to — and and influence with — Trump. Read more about Zelenskyy’s tough task from POLITICO’s Felicia Schwartz and colleagues But Graham’s legacy on Ukraine is still being written: His sister and replacement, Sen. Darline Graham, introduced the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia Act of 2026 with Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and more than 60 co-sponsors earlier this month. The vote to take up that bill is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. “I think there will be a very solid Democratic vote in favor of the bill,” Blumenthal told Scripps News’ Nathaniel Reed this morning. The war with Iran, for which Graham advocated for years, reached its six-month point today. Trump at its onset predicted it would last for “four or five weeks.” And there’s concern within the MAGA wing of the party that Netanyahu will pull Trump further into the war and once again ramp up attacks, POLITICO’s Megan Messerly and Myah Ward report. Both of Trump’s meetings have wrapped. Zelenskyy said in a post on X that he and Trump “discussed licenses for Patriot interceptor production and several other ideas that could help. We also spoke about diplomacy – it’s important that the diplomatic process be reinvigorated. Our teams will arrange the details of their further communication.” And in one more tribute to the hawk, the Pentagon announced it’s renaming Joint Base Charleston to Joint Base Lindsey Graham, the Post and Courier’s Nick Reynolds reports. “Senator Graham’s lifelong devotion to the military was shaped by his own military service and his public service in both the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives,” Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink wrote in a Monday letter. “His steadfast advocacy was instrumental in modernizing our military infrastructure and enhancing aviation security, ensuring that Joint Base Charleston remains as one of America’s premier military installations.” Good Tuesday afternoon. This is Irie Sentner. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Get in touch.
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1. SICK AND TWISTED: Democratic AGs and the Trump administration are facing off in court today over a new rule declaring that even a cancer diagnosis is not enough on its own to claim an exemption from the Medicaid work requirements in the One Big Beautiful Bill, POLITICO’s Alice Miranda Ollstein and Robert King report. Dem AGs from 25 states and D.C. are arguing the rule is “both too strict, in not offering blanket exemptions to people with certain diseases, and too vague, in failing to guide states on how to determine who is too sick to work”. 2. DOCUMENT DUMP: One of the 58 documents related to the 2020 election that Trump declassified earlier this month is drawing scrutiny from Democratic lawmakers and some members of the intelligence community over concerns that it presented only one viewpoint and appeared to be crafted in response to a narrow request from someone in the administration. More from MS NOW’s Laura Barrón-López and David Rohde 3. BRIDGING THE DIVIDE: Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) — a progressive Democrat and a MAGA Republican — are joining forces to introduce legislation that would bar federal elected officials and candidates from using campaign cash or legal defense funds to fight or settle sexual misconduct allegations, WaPo’s Alexei Koseff reports. Both members of the unlikely duo have been active in Congress’ broader reckoning about sexual misconduct.
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TOP TALKER — Ruby Rippey, the onetime Gavin Newsom aide who had an affair with Newsom when he was San Francisco mayor, is out with her side of the story in a much-anticipated piece for Vanity Fair: “How I Blew Up — Then Rebuilt — My Life.” In the essay, Rippey does not mention Newsom by name, only referring to the mayor of San Francisco. She acknowledges her role and does not allege that Newsom forced her to engage in the affair, but she notes there was a power imbalance. “Power does not need to coerce,” Rippey writes. “It only needs to exist. The responsibility to hold the line belongs to the one who holds it. That didn’t happen.” In response to the essay, a spokesperson for Newsom told NYT: “The governor acknowledged his role and publicly apologized for his conduct nearly two decades ago when he was still mayor,” Izzy Gardon said. “He addressed this chapter of his life, including in his memoir, and out of respect for everyone involved, does not have anything further to add.” ALARM BELLS — Justice Neil Gorsuch today warned a crowd at the Reagan Civility and Democracy Forum that U.S. democracy is “very fragile” and “facing some tough times,” POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein writes in. “We are all in it together, and if we don't stay all in it together, it will crumble,” Gorsuch said, urging students to study history “warts and all.” BET ON IT — Gabriel Perez, the White House aide who allegedly used his access to President Donald Trump’s teleprompters to make more than $100,000 on the prediction market Kalshi, is no longer employed by the federal government, POLITICO’s Ben Johansen scoops. A White House official declined to answer questions about whether Perez was fired, and Perez could not be reached for comment. OFF THE WALL — The Pentagon has stripped former Obama DNI James Clapper’s name from an auditorium at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, The Daily Caller’s Reagan Reese reports. It will now be known as the Thomas Knowlton Leadership Hall in honor of Thomas Knowlton, who led the Colonies’ intelligence unit during the Revolutionary War and died in 1776. POLITICO MOVE — Lauren Fedor is joining POLITICO as a senior politics reporter. She joins from the Financial Times, where she spent seven years, most recently serving as U.S. political correspondent and deputy Washington bureau chief. The announcement OUT AND ABOUT — The North American Blueberry Council and National Milk Producers Federation co-hosted their annual Blueberry Ice Cream Social last night in the Rayburn Foyer, celebrating National Blueberry Month and National Ice Cream Month. More than 300 congressional staffers, agriculture advocates and industry partners stopped by for ice cream topped with fresh, frozen and dried U.S. blueberries, along with appearances by blueberry and cow mascots. SPOTTED: Wade Roberge, John Altendorf, Kayla Bragg, John Ryan Rodriguez, Katherine Vitonne, Liz Homic, Maria Brockcamp, Tory Rice, Trey Forsyth, Alyssa Houtby, Lilia McFarland Horder, Stewart Verdery, T.A. Hawks, Alexa Fox, Richie Holmberg and Reed Middleton. TRANSITIONS — David Spielfogel will be Airbnb’s new global head of public policy. He joins after nine years at Lime and is a Rahm Emanuel alum. … Linoshka Luna and Andrea Shoucair are joining ROKK Solutions as account directors. Luna most recently worked for the House Republican Conference, and Shoucair for Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.). Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us on Signal here. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Giuseppe Macri and deputy editor Garrett Ross. |
