Meet the Press interview

Well, thank you. He's a tough one to lose. He's, he was great. He was unique in every way actually.

So what makes it even stranger is that I got a call last night sometime at, you know, the early evening, maybe in the sevens. And he called and he said, uh, "We're all set for the Save America Act." 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." And he said, he sounded a little tired, but perfect, but a little bit tired.

Had a right to be. Man, he was a worker. No, he was really a worker. But, uh, but he sounded great actually, but he was, he was, uh, he actually said he was tired. But he, 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. I'll see you like soon." We thought mi- -- we might even meet today.

And then that was it. And that was, you know, very around the time. It couldn't have been much longer. I don't, 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 at his office that he had passed away. I said, "You guys, I just can't believe it. " He was like a member of the family to me. It's very tough, actually.

It's amazing.

He, he was, he was, he was such an advocate. He was, you know, if he, if he wanted to get something and, you know, he had a unique ability. He was able to deal with Democrats and Repub- -- if I had a problem, a real problem, I wouldn't often ask. But if I had a problem with a Democrat, he could work it out.

He was a, a great, he was a great politician, actually.

Yep, he loved --

No, he was, there was nobody like him. He loved being a politician and he was gonna win his election. He was gonna win it big. I endorsed him very early and he was gonna win it big. He had it, just had it made. And he just loved being a politician.

I said, "The reason I'm endorsing you is because I gotta make sure you win because if you didn't win, I don't think you could handle life. I really don't."

He, he was a man. You know, there are guys that can lose and they go into something else. I, I can't imagine him, uh, doing anything else. I said, "If you weren't a US Senator, I don't know if you could live very long," and look what happens. He was gonna have a big victory. And, uh, the people loved him.

Everybody loved him. Well, no, he had some enemy, he was a tough cookie. Don't, don't misunderstand. He was a tough cookie in many ways.

If he, if he wanted to get something, if he thought he was right and he had people against him, he could be very tough actually. But he was a good person.

Not really. Nothing. No. He said he's a little tired. He, it was a long trip, you know, many hours. And he had just gotten back. And he, uh, I mean, it must have been right after that because I understand the police or whoever it is came there at about 7:30, 8:00 in the evening, something like that. So somebody notified him.

But no, he felt okay. I mean, I actually, uh, on the, on the call he told me, Kristen, he said, "You know, I feel good, but I'm tired."

He was fine. I knew him, I knew him well. He would, he would let you know if he wasn't feeling well. He, he had days where he didn't feel so well and he'd let you know about it. But he was a fantastic person. He, he was a man who you're gonna watch. It's gonna be a very big thing with him. Uh, he's gonna be appreciated more now than he was when he was living, I think.

Could be.

Yeah.

I would think it would be that, because when I spoke to him, it, it could have been, you know, minutes before based on, you know, the re- -- 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 he was, other than being tired, he was fine.

And so it had to be something like that, that would just be a quick end. And maybe that's not the worst way to go.

You know, he had some fine moments. His moment on Brett Kavanaugh was one of the classics --

\-\- I think in the history of the Senate. His moment was literally, I mean, literally one of the great classics of, of anyone in the Senate when he defended Brett Kavanaugh so brilliantly. And Brett might not have made it, e- -- except for that. He was, they were treating him very unfairly, good man. They treated him so unfairly and Lindsey was so angry at the Senate because of it. And he had an emot- -- really an emotional moment.

And I think that saved Brett Kavanaugh's, uh, Supreme Court, you know, ascension. He, uh, lindsey did something that he was just so angry at the way Brett was being treated by the Democrats. It was so unfair. It was so unfair.

I stuck with him. But Lindsey, Lindsey got that over. Lindsey did a thing there that was, I think, uh, nobody else could have done that.

No, he never did. Nope.

Well, I got to know Lindsey, uh, during the campaign. I didn't really know him then. I met him once or twice, but nothing. And I got to know him during the campaign. He was tough, but he said, "I'll see you in South Carolina." [Laughs] You know, he was, uh, but when it came to South Carolina, I won South Carolina by a lot.

And I, I sort of, I sort of ran the table on everybody and it was good. And he appreciated it. He respected it. And we sort of got a little bit friendly and it just, the friendship grew. It just grew.

And he was an amazing advocate, he was. I don't know how you find anybody like him.

He was so intense. I mean, he literally called me about the Save America Act. That's why he's, you know, I, that's where I heard. Think of it, he's traveling for many, many hours. That's a long flight.

That's a long trip. And he, you know, calls me about the Save America Act. Uh, he, he thought we were gonna get it passed.

This is a big --

This is a big, um, this is a big blow to the Save America Act, let me tell you.

I said, "Well, see you soon. Come over anytime you want." He came into the White House a lot 'cause I liked him.

Can't do that with everybody. But he come in a lot. And he was a great, like a gauge, a, a temperature gauge of the Senate. Uh, he was somebody that most Democrats liked. Uh, some didn't, but most Democrats liked. And just about all of the Republicans like Lindsey. He got along with everybody.

And yet he was, he was a tough cookie in a lotta ways, but he had a, honestly, he was a great politician. People don't realize what a good politician he was. He could, he could go in and get something approved. He would, he would just get people on his side. He was really a talented, you know, I don't say you, you probably never heard me say that about anybody because, you know --

\-\- there aren't too many of them, let me tell you. Sometimes you'll meet somebody and they've been there for 25 years and you say, "How did they say this?" They're not, this, this man was a great politician. He really got it.

Yeah.

I have somebody that I think would be great, but I don't wanna say it now.

Because it just, you know, it's too soon with Lindsey.

I don't wanna even talk about anybody, but I do have somebody that I think is really good. The governor's a good friend of mine. I've endorsed him. You know, I endorsed him early on and he endorsed me, uh, right from the beginning as a person that never did this before. In 2016, he came out and very strongly endorsed me. And then I, I made up for it. I removed somebody from office that I didn't think was so good.

Moved her over to the United Nations. 95% of that, of my doing that, because the United Nations job was not exactly tough. Yeah, it, it could be very important, but, you know, she was okay at it. But I did it because Henry McMaster was the lieutenant governor. And by moving her, I, I got myself a great, uh, really a great guy.

Henry McMaster's been a really good governor, a really good guy. And, you know, that, that position cleared out. And Henry's been a great governor. You know, now he's termed out. But he, he, uh, he's gonna do the right thing. I think Henry will be fantastic. Remember, he endorsed me out of nowhere. He just, he said, "I like that guy the best." And he, and he campaigned for me with his wife, with Peg.

He campaigned for me. I, I'd say, "Who is that man that's campaigning all the time?"

I hardly knew him. They said, "That's the lieutenant governor." So y- -- they, they have a great governor and he's gonna make a good decision. But ultimately, it's gonna be an election pretty soon, as I understand the rules. Every state is different.

But ultimately they'll have an election. They'll have some people joining. Some are good, some are bad. And, uh, but I have somebody that I like, but I'm not gonna tell you who now because it's too soon. Yeah, it's too soon.

I never thought I'd be in this position.

I said, "I though Lindsey was gonna be living forever."

I never though, I never, I said, "Lindsey, you're gonna live forever."

And he was gonna have a big victory. You know, he was, he was scheduled to win by a lot. He had my support and he was scheduled. He was gonna win by a lot.

He was gonna have one of his best elections ever. And now he's got, he's got this, terrible.

Right.

It's open and I don't wanna talk about it because I, I wanna honor the life of Lindsey Graham. So I don't wanna talk about it. I told you that before the call.

It's open. We bombed the hell out of them last night. They're, uh, very, very evil and sick people. We had meetings with them for the last, they agreed to a deal yesterday, a perfect deal for us. No nuclear, no this, no that, no nothing. They gave up everything.

And then after that, they left the room. And then within an hour, they launched a drone at a ship. I said, "You people are sick. You're sick people." And so it's one of those things. I don't wanna talk about it.

I wanna talk about --

\-\- I wanna talk about one person today, Lindsey Graham.

He's got so many legacies, but one of the legacies is a Supreme Court justice who's excellent named Brett Kavanaugh. That's one of the legacies. That's a big legacy because Brett was being treated very unfairly. I don't think he could've gotten through without Lindsey's classic. I mean, if you go back into the top 10, I think it would be a top 10, a top 5 in the history of the Senate.

The emotion, the anger, the love, the whole thing, everything was in that. It was, I called him up. I said, "That's one of the great classics of all time." He was a great politician. He really was. He got along with a lot of people that you wouldn't think of. He was, uh, somebody that loved our country and he fought very hard for the country.

And I know he was gonna do your show today. He told me, "I'm doing Meet the Press. Can you believe it?"

He said, um, and here I am doing Meet the Press for him. But, uh, he told me last night he's doing Meet the Press.

So, you know? But, uh, I said, "Just relax and take it easy, Lindsey. You just got back from a long trip." But he, he was, I thought he was just gonna live forever.

And it didn't work out that way.

True.

Yeah.

Thank you very much, Kristen. Thank you.