From staunch critic to fierce ally: Graham's long, strange and consequential friendship with Trump

WASHINGTON (AP) — After the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, Sen. Lindsey Graham said he had finally had enough of the man who was championed by the mob that stormed the pillar of American democracy: President Donald Trump.

“Trump and I, we’ve had a hell of a journey. I hate it to end this way. Oh my God, I hate it. From my point of view, he’s been a consequential president," an emotional Graham said once authorities cleared the rioters and allowed senators to reclaim their chamber. "All I can say is count me out. Enough is enough.”

It wasn't, of course.

Graham, the South Carolina Republican who died unexpectedly on Saturday night at age 71, realized that his party's future was inextricably tied to Trump and quickly reverted back to being a staunch defender. The shift made what had once seemed like a final rupture into just another twist in the topsy-turvy relationship between the powerful senator and the president who came to dominate their party.

“Can we move forward without President Trump? The answer is no,” Graham said in May 2021, just four months after the Jan. 6 attack. “I’ve determined we can’t grow without him.”

Trump, who called Graham a "true American Patriot” in a social media post Sunday, appeared shocked by the lawmaker's sudden passing.

“I just can’t believe it,” the president told NBC's “Meet the Press." “He was like a member of the family."

Graham often advised Trump on foreign affairs, particularly on matters pertaining to Israel, Ukraine and Iran. He was a frequent visitor at the White House.

“At the end of a particularly thrilling and rollicking meeting in the Oval Office, Lindsey Graham turned to the room and said: 'I’ve never had this much fun in my life,’” deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller wrote on X. He said such gatherings "were filled with camaraderie, kinship and uproarious laughter.”

Trump recalled that during his last conversation with Graham, he told his friend, “We’ll see you soon, come over anytime you want.”

The senator and Trump first clashed while competing for the 2016 presidential nomination.

Graham described Trump as “unfit for office,” and was angered when Trump denigrated the military service of Graham's close friend, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. Trump suggested, “I like people that weren't captured” when talking about McCain's years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

Trump got mad enough at Graham to release the senator's personal cellphone number. That prompted a viral video in which the senator dramatically destroyed a series of flip phones. He smashed one with a meat cleaver and another with a golf club, then used lighter fluid, a blender and toaster oven to pulverize others before tossing one off the roof.

Graham eventually likened Trump's winning the nomination to “being shot in the head” and said he refused to vote for Trump that November. But the pair later bonded over golf and what Graham described as a mutual and irreverent sense of humor.

Trump and Graham began so frequently hitting the links together that the senator started seeing it as something of a career builder, leaning heavily into the kind of over-the-top flattery Trump relishes. In 2017, Graham joked that Trump had beaten him “like a drum” on the course — even worse than in the presidential primary.

“Their true friendship could only be seen behind the curtain,” Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., told ABC’s “This Week.” Scott said that relationship was forged as political adversaries but also strengthened by spending 100-plus hours golfing together.

During Trump's first term, Graham helped advance Trump's nominees to the Supreme Court, lent credibility to the White House's legislative agenda and even at times became part of the president's inner circle. He frequently said Trump was maturing in politics and growing on the job.

Graham's political divergence with McCain, who died in 2018, was never more clear than in 2017, when McCain voted against a Trump-backed plan to overturn Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature health care law. The effort had been co-sponsored by Graham.

In his floor speech after the Capitol attack, Graham said “he’d never been so humiliated and embarrassed for the country.” But the break with Trump ended quickly.

Weeks later, Trump invited Graham for golf and dinner at the president's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, reigniting their alliance. During Trump's 2024 campaign, Graham was a frequent Trump surrogate on television, promoting U.S. military strength that he said would advance “America First” policies.

Graham never shed his more traditional Republican foreign policy views, including outspoken support for Ukraine during the Russian invasion. He was also a leading voice pushing the White House to more fully embrace Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and take a harder line against Iran.

After the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran in February, Graham remained hawkish, staunchly defending the action and working to counter many in Trump's “Make America Great Again” base who thought “America First” meant avoiding such military conflicts.

“To those who say Iran is stronger now than before, that is an insult to the American military and it is delusional thinking because the Iranian economy is in shambles,” Graham posted on social media June 19.

But Graham's admiration for Trump went far beyond Iran. When Graham clinched the South Carolina Republican primary last month, he suggested the president was just short of a deity.

“I want to start with a bunch of thank yous. I want to thank the big guy, God. Trump comes later,” Graham laughed. “Mr. President, you’re not far behind God, but we’re gonna start with him.”

FILE - President Donald Trump listens to Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speak during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, Nov. 6, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

FILE - President Donald Trump walks to the Oval Office with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

FILE - President Donald Trump and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., right, play golf at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Va., as seen from the other side of the Potomac River in Darnestown, Md., July 18, 2020. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

FILE - President Donald Trump, left, exits Air Force One with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Feb. 28, 2020, on arrival to North Charleston, S.C., where he will attend a campaign rally. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

FILE - Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks as Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., listen, at a primary election night party at the South Carolina State Fairgrounds in Columbia, S.C., Feb. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

FILE - Former President Donald Trump listens as Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speaks at a campaign event at the South Carolina Statehouse, Jan. 28, 2023, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

GHENT, Belgium--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 3, 2026--

Bizzmine has announced a major expansion of its intelligent QHSE platform at Digital Summit 2026. The company presented more than 40 ready to use solutions spanning Quality, Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) and Compliance, together with advances in artificial intelligence and a fundamentally renewed user experience.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261102147396/en/

The latest developments give organisations a broader range of operational processes to manage in one environment, with connected information, common governance and a clear view of responsibilities and completed work across locations.

“What impresses me most is how quickly we can now turn innovation into value for our customers,” said Mark Abbas, CEO of Bizzmine. “In just one year, we have expanded from around 15 solutions to more than 40, got recognized by leading industry analysts for our EHS capabilities, introduced new AI capabilities and agents, and transformed the experience for our users. We can now bring new solutions and features to customers at an unprecedented pace. And we are doing it with the enterprise security that our customers expect, reflected in our CyberVadis Platinum recognition and outstanding score of 972.”

More than 40 solutions spanning Quality, EHS and Compliance

Over the past year, Bizzmine has expanded its portfolio from approximately 15 prepared solutions to more than 40. Quality capabilities such as document control, audits and corrective and preventive actions (CAPA) are joined by EHS solutions for permits to work, risk assessments and incident management, together with broader compliance solutions including information security.

All of these solutions run on the same platform and share the data set, workflow technology, and reporting capabilities. Organisations can standardise critical processes internationally while giving individual sites the flexibility to meet local operational requirements.

Bizzmine takes its AI capabilities to the next level

Already a frontrunner in bringing AI into QHSE software, Bizzmine demonstrated a significant advance in how its technology can be used. AI agents can now execute defined tasks directly within workflow steps, process relevant information and return their results to the next stage of work. Authorised users retain oversight and approval wherever required, with a record of the agent’s contribution.

Bizzmine also previewed a new generation of specialised agents for activities including document analysis and audit preparation. The platform’s approach makes it possible to introduce new agents and AI features more rapidly and apply them across the operational processes customers already manage in Bizzmine.

Bizzmine also presented enhancements to the internal CoPilot that help users find and combine relevant information across authorised documents and other governed Bizzmine data. This gives employees access to a richer source of operational knowledge directly within the platform.

Extending AI connectivity through MCP

Looking ahead, Bizzmine outlined its plans to support the Model Context Protocol (MCP). The planned interface is intended to allow approved external AI systems and agents to work securely with Bizzmine information and processes, under the permissions and controls set by each organisation.

Vision AI connects safety observations to action

A Summit demonstration showed how Vision AI can identify potentially unsafe conditions in images or video, including workers who are missing required PPE (personal protective equipment). An observation can be transferred into Bizzmine with its supporting evidence and routed into a controlled incident or nonconformity process.

The demonstration illustrated how visual intelligence and structured workflows can connect an observation in the workplace to investigation and follow up, with human review at the appropriate stages.

A state of the art user experience across devices

Bizzmine unveiled a substantially modernised experience for end users, with extensive improvements to its visual design, navigation, screen layouts and day to day interactions. Creating content is more intuitive, workflow design is more visual and users can reach the information and tasks they need with less effort.

The updated experience works across desktop, tablet and mobile devices, giving employees access to Bizzmine wherever their work takes them. Whether in a factory, warehouse, laboratory, construction site or office, users benefit from a consistent, contemporary interface designed around the work they need to complete.

Enterprise scale and security

Following continued double-digit growth, the Bizzmine platform now supports more than 275,000 users in over 75 countries. Its ability to support international operations is underpinned by shared governance, configurable permissions and traceable processes.

Enterprise access controls, audit trails and configurable approval stages help organisations govern sensitive operations and maintain accountability, including where AI agents contribute to a process.

The announcements reflect Bizzmine’s direction as an intelligent QHSE orchestrator, bringing together the solutions, information and people needed to carry out quality, safety and compliance work across an organisation.

About Bizzmine

Bizzmine develops intelligent software that helps organisations manage quality, health, safety, environment and compliance activities. Its integrated platform connects people, processes and information across activities including document control, audits, corrective actions, risk assessments and incident management. The platform supports more than 275,000 users in over 75 countries, helping teams manage responsibilities, complete critical work and maintain a clear record of results.

Developed and hosted in the European Union by default, Bizzmine also offers additional hosting options outside the EU to meet different organisational requirements.

For more information: www.bizzmine.com

Bizzmine summit panel discussion