Americanswers… on 5 Live! Mitch McConnell breaks his silence, will it stop the conspiracy theories?

**Justin Webb** (0:00)
Lindsay Graham has died. Lindsay Graham was a hugely important American politician. He had been a senator for many, many years. He had a lot of friendships on the Democratic side of the Senate, although he himself was a Republican and in recent years, a big supporter of Donald Trump, though he used to be an opponent of him. So what does the death of Lindsay Graham mean for American politics? Also, what is going on with Mitch McConnell, who used to be the Republicans' boss in the Senate, is now ill, and might he be replaced in his Senate seat by someone who opposes Donald Trump? It's all very complicated as ever. Add to that what's going on in Iran, which actually some of it at least takes place during the course of this edition of American Answers with Matt Chorley, with Sumi, with Anthony and with me. Welcome to American Answers.

**SPEAKER_5** (0:53)
Americast.

**Sumi Somaskanda** (0:54)
Americast from BBC News.

**SPEAKER_5** (0:57)
You hear that sound? Oh, I think when I hear that sound, it reminds me of money.

**SPEAKER_6** (1:01)
We didn't start this war, but under President Trump, we are finishing it. This is a big cover-up, and this administration is engaged in it.

**Justin Webb** (1:09)
This guy has Trump derangement syndrome.

**Anthony Zurcher** (1:11)
I have four words for you.

**SPEAKER_3** (1:14)
Turn the volume up.

**Matt Chorley** (1:21)
We have got an awful lot to get to, so let's get stuck in straight away. We've got Valerie Indidcot on the line. Hello, Valerie.

**Valerie Indidcot** (1:28)
Hello, Matt. How are you?

**Matt Chorley** (1:30)
I'm very well. What is your question for the Americasters?

**Valerie Indidcot** (1:33)
What's the impact of Lindsey Graham suddenly and unexpectedly passing? And the second part is, did it force Mitch McConnell into announcing that he's alive and well after weeks of conspiracy theory and speculation?

**Matt Chorley** (1:49)
So let's take those two parts of Valerie's excellent question.
Anthony, let's start first of all with just the huge news of the death of Lindsey Graham. For listeners who don't know or don't follow American politics as closely as perhaps we do, just explain the significance of Lindsey Graham in the Republican Party and American politics more generally.

**Anthony Zurcher** (2:09)
Sure. Lindsey Graham has been in the United States Senate since 2002, representing the conservative state of South Carolina. Prior to that, he was in the House of Representatives. He's had an on again, off again relationship with Donald Trump, a critic and then a supporter, then a critic and then a supporter again. But the importance of him, at least in this juncture, was that he has been a close friend and surrogate for Donald Trump in the United States Senate. He has been a robust advocate for the Iran War and for support for Israel. He has also been a supporter of Ukraine and their fight against Russia, and has tried to pressure Donald Trump to be more supportive of Ukraine. In fact, he was just over in Ukraine visiting Vladimir Zelenskyy two days before he passed suddenly of a heart condition on Saturday night. He is the Trump whisperer for the United States Senate. He helps shepherd through Donald Trump's legislative agenda through the Senate. He's had a good relationship with Democrats there.
He was a golf buddy of Trump. So he was able to kind of be the go-between that would help Trump. And his absence now is going to have huge implications for getting Donald Trump's judicial nominees confirmed and for getting any other legislation through the Senate, through the Congress for the rest of this year.

**Sumi Somaskanda** (3:28)
Yeah, I would absolutely agree with what Anthony said. Being the Donald Trump whisperer was a role that Lindsay Graham in the last few years in particular really embraced. You know, in that time of what some call purgatory for Donald Trump, when he lost the 2020 election before the 2024 election, it was Lindsay Graham who went down to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Donald Trump, to golf with him, to try to convince him to abandon some of his grievances, those unfounded claims of the 2020 election being rigged to say, look, you need to focus on the future and salvaging your political career. Of course, that did happen, as we know.
But interesting to note that Lindsay Graham, after the January 6th riots on the Capitol, he on the Senate floor said, count me out, enough is enough.
Some took that to mean that he had had enough with Donald Trump. Well, that wasn't the case. Later he said, what I mean is enough with this process, enough with the controversy over this election, it is over. Now we see him, of course, as one of President Trump's biggest supporters, and with his passing, it's going to be interesting to see what impact that has on foreign policy. The Iran war was a full-throated supporter of it, and was skeptical of any agreement to be reached with Iran, and a pressure point for President Trump to really push the Iranians. Now that that's gone, that will be a glaring exception for the Senate as well.