Washington, July 14 (IANS) White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller paid an emotional tribute to the late Senator Lindsey Graham, calling him one of President Donald Trump’s closest allies in Congress and crediting him with helping drive key elements of the administration’s legislative agenda.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Miller described Graham not only as a political partner but also as a close personal friend whose relationship with him evolved over the years.
“Lindsey was a close friend of mine,” Miller said. “I’m very grateful that I had the chance to get to say that to him before he ended up passing on.”
Miller said he had known Graham before Trump’s first presidential campaign but became much closer to him during Trump’s second presidential campaign in 2024 and throughout the transition into office.
Recalling their conversations, Miller said they often joked about how dramatically their relationship had changed after earlier political differences.
“We’re working on every policy every day together. We’re having phone calls about deficit policy, about welfare reform, about border security, everything else,” he said.
Miller described Graham as someone who was always willing to help whenever the White House needed support.
“Every time we needed anything at all, and we called Lindsey, without question, without hesitation, he would help out,” he said.
He said Graham’s greatest public legacy would be his role in advancing President Trump’s legislative priorities in the Senate.
“Lindsey was the most effective, consistent advocate for the president’s agenda in the Senate, and that is a historical legacy that will always belong to him,” Miller said.
He credited Graham with helping secure passage of the administration’s first reconciliation bill and using his long Senate experience to build support for the President’s priorities.
“His ability, as few others can, to be able to muscle things through the Senate—that’s a real skill,” Miller said.
Miller also praised Graham’s communication skills, saying the senator believed speeches on the Senate floor could genuinely persuade colleagues rather than simply appeal to television audiences.”Lindsey really believed he could change people’s minds through the force and persuasion of his rhetoric, and he proved time and time again that he could do that,” he said.
Calling Graham “a noble career politician,” Miller said the South Carolina Republican dedicated his life to serving the country and found renewed purpose during the Trump years.
He said Graham became “one of the most important allies of President Trump and MAGA and the America First movement” and emerged as one of the administration’s strongest advocates on immigration enforcement.
“The fact is that Lindsey, by the time we came into office in 2025, was one of the most prominent supporters of ICE, DHS, immigration enforcement, and the president’s immigration agenda in the whole country,” Miller said.
Asked separately about Iran, Miller offered only a brief response, saying President Trump had already made the administration’s position clear.
“I think the president has been very clear about his message to Iran,” he said. “Anybody who tries to test the metal and might of President Trump from the United States of America would be very foolish for doing so.”
He declined to comment on reports about President Trump’s planned Thursday address and said the White House communications team would provide any preview. Miller also reiterated that “the only entity in the United States that can conduct foreign policy is the executive branch of the federal government.”
Graham, who represented South Carolina in the Senate for more than two decades, was one of the Republican Party’s most influential voices on national security, foreign policy and defence. Although he was an early critic of Trump during the 2016 Republican presidential primary, he later became one of the President’s closest congressional allies and a frequent adviser on Capitol Hill.
–IANS
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