Sen. Lindsey Graham Lindsey Olin GrahamSenators struggle to save Jan. 6 commission Police reform fight hinges on qualified immunity On The Money: White House counters with .7 trillion infrastructure proposal, GOP unimpressed | USDA to start loan forgiveness for thousands of minority farmers MORE (R-S.C.), a longtime friend of the late Sen. John McCain John Sidney McCainHannity tells Santorum he helped prevent Joy Reid from being fired Richard Hanania sees Trump as 2024 GOP nominee Why Republican politicians are sticking with Trump MORE (R-Ariz.), on Tuesday revealed the last words McCain said to him before he died on Saturday. "He had a romantic view of our nation until his last breath," Graham said on NBC's "Today" show. "Literally almost the last thing he said to me was, 'I love you. I have not been cheated.' " "He was not cheated," Graham added. “This man was the conscience of the Senate... Literally almost the last thing he said to me was ‘I love you. I have not been cheated.’” @LindseyGrahamSC on McCain pic.twitter.com/4PaqgaH0Pv — TODAY (@TODAYshow) August 28, 2018 ADVERTISEMENT Graham answered questions about what McCain thought about the South Carolina senator's continued defense of President Trump Donald TrumpTrump lashes out after grand jury seated for New York criminal probe Schumer tees up vote on Jan. 6 commission bill Senators struggle to save Jan. 6 commission MORE. McCain and Trump had a combative relationship dating back to 2015. "I don’t have the luxury of pretending like Donald Trump’s not president," Graham said. "I do want to help him, I want to be a bridge where I can." "Sen. McCain never got mad at you about that?" NBC's Savannah Guthrie asked Graham. "Oh, no," he replied. "It wouldn’t have mattered. I’d have done it anyway. I’m too much like him." "The bottom line is, John has shown that it’s not about you," Graham added. "Country first means that, even if it’s inconvenient for you and it makes you uncomfortable, you do it anyway. Country first hurts, but it’s the right way to go." McCain died on Saturday, more than a year after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer. "This man was the conscience of the Senate," Graham said. "He was at times the conscience of the nation. And if I had to pick one person in this great land to explain to someone from a different planet — 'Who are these Americans?' — it would be John McCain, with an assist from [McCain's former chief of staff] Mark Salter." Graham will read a tribute to McCain at his Washington, D.C., memorial service on Saturday.<doc-sep>Sen. Lindsey Graham, who had been an ally of John McCain and one of the Arizona Republican’s closest friends, revealed the late lawmaker’s last words to him in an emotional interview on NBC’s “Today.” “The last thing he said to me was, ‘I love you, I have not been cheated,’” Graham, a South Carolina Republican, said, as a tear rolled down his cheek. McCain died Saturday night after a yearlong battle with brain cancer. He had spent much of his last three years clashing with President Donald Trump — a feud that continued even after his death. But Graham, who unlike McCain has embraced Trump's presidency, said that his friend never had much of a problem with his decision to support Trump. “John has shown it's not about you. Country first,” Graham said. “Country first hurts, but it’s the right way to go.” And when it came to Trump’s response to McCain’s death — he initially offered only a brief tweet, and had the White House flag prematurely raised to full-staff before lowering it back to half-staff after veterans groups and lawmakers grew furious — Graham praised Trump for “finally” getting “to where he needs to be.” “How the president feels about Senator McCain, it’s his right to feel any way he likes,” Graham said. “Clearly they had a contentious relationship. He’s not the only one to have had a tense relationship with John McCain,” he added. In addition, Graham — who last week suggested that Trump deserved a faithful attorney general and might fire Jeff Sessions after the November midterm elections — said that the U.S. needs an attorney general “who can work with the president.” It was a major shift for Graham, who just a year ago said the president would have “holy hell” to pay if he fired Sessions. Graham added that the rift between the two men was “much deeper” than Trump being angry with Sessions for having recused himself from any federal probe into Russian election meddling. “It’s a pretty deep breach,” he said. “This relationship is beyond repair.” When asked later by NBC News what he meant by "deep breach," Graham declined to elaborate. Graham added that should Sessions be replaced, the next attorney general will have to "allow Mueller to do his job."<doc-sep>An estimated 12,000 to 15,000 people paid their respects to John McCain at the Arizona state capitol on Wednesday as tributes continue for the late senator. "CBS This Morning" co-host John Dickerson spoke with Sen. Lindsey Graham on Wednesday about his unique relationship with McCain, which spanned more than two decades, and he revealed what their last moments together were like. Graham said he'd been planning to visit McCain this week but something told him to go last Friday. "And when I walked in, he just smiled and held my hand, but really didn't say anything," Graham recalled. Graham told him, "You did good. You exceeded every expectation your dad and your grandfather had for you. You did right by your country, did right by your friends. And I am better for having met you." Below is an excerpt of Dickerson's conversation with Graham: JOHN DICKERSON: We've heard a lot about Senator McCain this week. What's something people would be surprised to learn about John McCain? LINDSEY GRAHAM: How kind he was. DICKERSON: How did that manifest itself? GRAHAM: Paying tremendous amount of attention when you needed it the most. That he could be a handful, he could rip your head off, all on and on and on. But he could be incredibly kind just by picking up the phone, making sure that you knew he was there for you. DICKERSON: What would he say if he was calling you now? GRAHAM: Buck up. Knock that crap off. You're embarrassing yourself. DICKERSON: Do you still have the instinct to take out your phone and call him? GRAHAM: People ask me what it's like. Yes, I literally, yesterday afternoon… I literally almost picked up my phone, so I don't know who in your life that you talk to about business matters or almost share things with about your hopes and your dreams and, you know, your business activities, it was John for me. DICKERSON: If you can't talk to him, what do you hear him saying in your head? GRAHAM: Steady. Keep pushing. Be careful, but steady. Stay involved. Don't give up. DICKERSON: Did you get a chance to say goodbye to him? GRAHAM: Yeah, I did…And when I walked in, he just smiled and held my hand, but really didn't say anything. And Friday was a bad day. But, yeah, something told me to go. I was planning to go this week. And I found a hole in my schedule I said, "No, I need to go." DICKERSON: What did you tell him when you said goodbye to him? GRAHAM: You did good. You exceeded every expectation your dad and your grandfather had for you. You did right by your country, did right by your friends. And I am better for having met you and he just squeezed really hard. DICKERSON: You traveled all over the world together. GRAHAM: Yes, every place no one else wanted to go, we went. DICKERSON: You were never anywhere very long. GRAHAM: This man, John McCain, had more energy than 10 men. The doctor told me and Cindy that he had eight times the tolerance for pain of the average person. But he had a schedule that would literally kill you, but he was curious. DICKERSON: Last question. We're sitting in the Russell Senate Office Building. Should it be the John McCain Senate Office Building? GRAHAM: Yeah. I think we need a -- I don't know. I'd name the capitol after the guy. It'd be John McCain, D.C. I want to see what the family thinks…But the Capitol Visitor Center, he hated that place. It turned out to be marvelous….What if, as the first thing you saw, was the life of John McCain? What if it was the John McCain Capitol Visitor Center? That would be perfect in this regard. It would be an educational moment for young people to know that men like John McCain existed. Then, they'll find out about other men and women that made this place truly great and it would annoy the hell out of him. So it'd be my way of getting back at him.<doc-sep>
Following the death of his close friend and colleague Sen. John McCain, Sen. Lindsey Graham shared some of the late senator’s final words to him and elaborated on McCain’s legacy. “He had a romantic view of our nation to his last breath,” Graham told NBC’s TODAY Tuesday morning. “Literally almost the last thing he said to me was ‘I love you. I have not been cheated.’ He was not cheated.” Speaking to McCain’s legacy, Graham said the late senator showed politicians like himself and Americans “that it’s not about you.” “Country first means that even if it’s inconvenient for you and it makes you uncomfortable, you do it anyway,” Graham said. “Country first hurts, but it’s the right way to go.” Graham and McCain were two good friends who worked alongside each other in the Senate for more than 15 years. The two Republicans disagreed with each other on certain issues — memorably the Republican attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act last year — but emphasized that their political differences did not come in the way of their friendship. Graham explained on TODAY that McCain’s desk “is right by mine,” making it difficult for him to look over after the late senator’s death. Graham will speak on the Senate floor Tuesday about McCain and his legacy. He told TODAY hosts Savannah Guthrie and Craig Melvin that he plans to approach the difficult speech as he would an “after action report” in the military. “This man was the conscience of the Senate. He was at times the conscience of the nation,” Graham said. “If I had to pick one person in this great land to explain to someone from a different planet who are these Americans, it would be John McCain with an assist from (his speechwriter) Mark Salter.” McCain had a tumultuous relationship with President Donald Trump, whom Graham has defended in recent months. Trump released an official statement on the death of the late senator two days after his death, and the White House re-lowered its flags to half-staff amid pubic pressure to keep them there until McCain’s burial. Graham hesitated to criticize the President when asked about the kerfuffle. “It is all over now. The flag is down,” Graham said. “When the President mentioned John, he got applause. I hope he’ll remember how people feel about John.” “Clearly they had a tenuous relationship,” Graham said, “but he’s not the only one to have a tense relationship with John McCain.” Funeral services for McCain will begin this week. He will first lie in the Arizona State Capitol for a ceremony Wednesday (which would have been his birthday). Then he will lie in state at the U.S. Capitol on Friday. Services will take place around Washington, D.C., on Saturday. Correction August 29 The original version of this story misstated Lindsey Graham’s comments about John McCain. Graham said McCain was the “conscience” of the Senate and the nation, not the “conscious.” Contact us at letters@time.com.