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The Situation Room

Trump Meets With Benjamin Netanyahu; Lindsey Graham Honored on Capitol Hill. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired July 28, 2026 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[11:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

And we continue our special coverage this hour here in THE SITUATION ROOM, special coverage of the very special ceremony honoring the late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham up on Capitol Hill, his casket there at the Capitol Hill Rotunda.

The vice president, J.D. Vance, the Senate majority leader, John Thune, they both delivered very moving remarks in the last hour in the Rotunda. And later this afternoon, President Trump, other government officials, and world leaders will gather at the National Cathedral here in Washington for a funeral service.

The president is expected to speak about his political ally and occasional golf partner from South Carolina.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: And Graham's foreign policy influence is on full display here in the nation's capital today. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be at the White House shortly. And Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is wrapping up his own meeting with President Trump.

Both world leaders are in Washington for Graham's funeral, with Netanyahu focusing on the Iran war that Graham supported, and Zelenskyy, one of the last people to see Graham before his sudden death, advocating for the late senator's Russia sanctions package.

And there's been a renewed push to pass that legislation in Graham's honor by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

BLITZER: And joining us here in THE SITUATION ROOM right now, CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. She's also the anchor of "INSIDE POLITICS" and "STATE OF THE UNION."

Dana, this was very moving, especially for those of us, like you and me and Pamela, who covered Lindsey Graham for so many years.

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: Very moving. And, look, Manu was talking about this on air earlier, and I think it

bears repeating, that this is not typical. This is very rare for a senator, even a sitting senator, to have this kind of ceremony in the Rotunda. And it just speaks to the kind of impact that Senator Graham has had for the last three-plus decades serving in the United States Congress.

And what we heard from both the vice president and especially Sheri Biggs from -- who represents Central South Carolina, where Graham was born and raised -- she's a congresswoman -- and then, of course, John Thune, really did fill out the person he was, talked about his passion for policy, his passion for travel, foreign policy, his love of South Carolina, but also his ability to find a way even and especially when he disagreed with people across the aisle to find something to work on, or to find something to laugh about, to go on a CODEL, meaning a trip abroad with.

And that is, frankly, a lost art. And so with his passing, his sudden passing, is -- is going to leave a hole in a lot of different ways, but that's one that I keep thinking of, the fact that he can call up Elizabeth Warren, who disagrees with him on just about everything, and find a social media piece of legislation to work on.

And things of that nature really do speak to who Senator Graham was.

BROWN: Yes, and you mentioned part of his tack was to use a sense of humor, right...

BASH: Very much so.

BROWN: ... and maybe negotiations with others across the aisle who he didn't agree with.

And you heard Vice President J.D. Vance talk about that and his ability to make just about anyone laugh. I want to listen more to his remarks about Senator Graham during the ceremony of the Capitol. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Lindsey Graham could make anybody laugh. And he could make anybody feel at home. I was talking to a mutual friend of ours, a person who didn't always agree with Lindsey Graham's politics, just shortly after his death.

And I expected the person maybe to say something critical, but he said: "You know what? Even though we sometimes disagreed, I loved Lindsey Graham." It was impossible not to like him, that swashbuckling, infectious laugh, that attitude, that passion that so many others have talked about.

[11:05:16]

Lindsey Graham was impossible not to like as a human being, and, of course, as a United States senator.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So, Vice President Vance and Senator Graham, as we know, had different views, right, especially when it comes to foreign policy. They represent two different wings of the GOP.

Why is that so significant in this moment for President Trump?

BASH: Well, because Senator Graham made a point of injecting himself into the conversation and to the policymaking decisions that President Trump made in a way that he thought was critical because of the current advisers around President Trump right now.

He didn't see much of a place of support for the kind of foreign policy that he did. He was very much a hawk, very much about intervening and defending the democracies that he saw as in peril both with Ukraine and in the Middle East with Israel.

And it's fitting, as you mentioned, that both the prime minister of Israel and the president of Ukraine are coming, because those are two people who really were emblematic of that push. I will say, just on the humor that J.D. Vance was talking about, I mean, I cannot tell you how many times I -- I mean, it's almost it was like ab exercises, because you laugh so hard.

BROWN: We kind of talked about that.

BASH: You laugh so hard. There are -- people sometimes people would hear me on the phone, saying, who is she talking to? Because I couldn't stop laughing.

He knew how to break through and how to connect with people. And I have said this before. I do believe, and I think he actually said to me and others, he had to be that way because he literally grew up in the backroom of a bar. So he learned early how to connect with people.

It's not to say he didn't make people very angry. It didn't -- he fought as hard as he loved and made people laugh, but it was something that made him, frankly, a world-class politician. Whether you loved him or you hated him, you knew that he knew how to play the game.

BLITZER: He certainly did.

I want to play a little bit about what the Senate majority leader, John Thune, just said about Senator Graham during his remarks in the Capitol Rotunda memorial service. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): It didn't matter to Lindsey whether an issue was popular or unpopular, whether he had the full support of his colleagues or whether he was standing alone. If he believed he was in the right, he spoke up. He told things the way he saw them, and he didn't mince words.

But lest anyone think it was all work and no levity with Lindsey, let me just say that there was no one, no one who took his job more seriously than Lindsey Graham, but also no one was more capable of cracking up a room.

During the workweek here in Washington, a lot of us are away from our family, so we often get together in groups for dinner. And let me tell you, Lindsey was always the first call. The conversation and the laughs always flowed at any meal where Lindsey Graham was present.

He was entertaining always and pretentious never.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Good point.

Dana, talk a little bit about the relationship between these two men and the hole that Lindsey Graham leaves behind in the Senate right now for both the Republicans and even for Democrats.

BASH: Yes, well, just on the -- John Thune, the two of them have been close for literally 30 years. Thune came to House when Graham was in the House in '96, I believe. And Thune told me in an interview just after Senator Graham died about this trip, this CODEL, this congressional trip abroad that they took.

And immediately then-Congressman Thune learned a lot about sort of how to behave and act in these situations from Graham. And they remained close, even and especially as they came to the Senate. And, recently, Senator Graham has been instrumental in being a liaison between Senator Thune and the rest of the Republican Conference in the Senate and President Trump.

And there were times and there are lots of issues where as we speak there are big differences between the president and his Republican brethren in the Senate. Senator Graham was somebody who could help translate, who could help mediate, particularly for the Senate majority leader, John Thune, and that is something that is going to be a big, big loss for Thune and for the rest of the Senate Republicans and President Trump.

[11:10:17]

BROWN: Yes.

And, as you know, Dana, Darline Graham, Lindsey Graham's younger sister, who he was very close with, is now serving in his seat temporarily and will run for his full six-year term with President Trump's endorsement.

You interviewed Darline about her brother back in 2015. I want to play some of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. DARLINE GRAHAM (R-SC): Yes, even when my parents were alive, they worked really long, hard hours running a small business. So, even then, he was a caregiver to me. He's always been more than a brother. But especially when my parents passed away, he took on that father role more so than ever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: What more do we know about the relationship between Graham and his sister and how do you expect her to lead in the Senate now?

BASH: Well, on their relationship, they were as close as you can imagine.

I was thinking each of us has a one sibling of the opposite gender, and I think we're all very close with them, nothing like what we have said what we saw and what I witnessed in their relationship, primarily because of what you just heard Darline Graham say there.

Both of their parents died within like 15 to 18 months of one another. He was already in school going into the Air Force. She was still quite young, a teenager, like 13 years old.

BROWN: Thirteen, yes.

BASH: And the way that he took care of her wasn't just emotionally and in other ways. He literally found a way to adopt her, so that she could get his military benefits.

And they remained so close. Senator Lindsey Graham was single. He had tons of friends, but his family was his sister, Darline, her kids and grandkids. And when Lindsey Graham was not traveling the world during whatever long weekend or congressional recess was happening, that's mostly what he did.

When he wasn't doing that, he was with his sister, Darline, and his family -- and her family, rather, in South Carolina, taking trips. They went to Disney World a lot, and you cannot overstate just how close he was to that family that you see right there from about an hour ago paying their respects to their brother and uncle and great uncle.

BLITZER: That's an amazing story, the love he has -- had for his younger sister, and he wanted to make sure she would benefit -- since the parents were gone, benefit from the health benefits as a retired colonel in the U.S. Air Force.

BASH: Yes.

BLITZER: He got all those benefits, and but he adopted her and made to make sure she would be well-taken care of.

His bipartisan bona fides go back many, many decades, and all of us remember, you and I well remember his relationship he had with the late Senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman. They became known as the Three Amigos. How influential was that group here in Washington?

BASH: Very influential.

I got to know Senator Graham during the McCain presidential campaign in 2008, and it was the three of them who were on the road a lot. Senator Lieberman, he was a Democrat, became an independent, got a lot of a flak for supporting John McCain in his presidential run.

The three of them were always together. They, again, traveled the world, did a lot of these meetings with world leaders together, and focused mostly on foreign policy, did some on domestic policy. Immigration was a big one that they that they pushed.

But it was mostly their friendship and the way that they genuinely loved one another, loved each other's families that was remarkable to behold, because there are friends in Washington. There are political friends, acquaintances, colleagues, people who you need to work with.

They really enjoyed one another's company, and it's really impossible to imagine that they are all now gone, especially Senator Graham, because he was by far the youngest.

BLITZER: Yes.

BASH: He was kind of like the kid brother.

BLITZER: And I don't know if you remember, but Senator Lieberman was a very observant Jew. And on Friday nights, when the Jewish Sabbath was going to begin at sundown, he would always want to be home so he could be with his family, say the kiddush and all of that, all the holy prayers.

And it was so interesting, because he would always say that Lindsey Graham was well aware when sundown would happen, so that Joe Lieberman could go home and get ready for the Jewish Sabbath, and he was very appreciative of Lindsey Graham on that.

BASH: Yes.

BLITZER: I don't know if you ever heard those stories, but it was very, very sentimental.

BASH: Yes, I do. I heard -- I remember that, and I and I have definitely heard those stories.

[11:15:00]

And, look, Senator Graham was a huge proponent of Israel. He, like many other American leaders, clashed with Benjamin Netanyahu and other prime ministers who preceded him.

But he worked extremely hard on maintaining a relationship and protection for Israel, even in the face of a lot of growing opposition, never mind the Democratic Party, but even in his own party.

And I know that's something that the Israeli prime minister and others have said publicly is a big loss when it comes to U.S.-Israel relationships, which are now at a very fractured point.

BLITZER: It's a very tense moment right now in that U.S.-Israeli relationship indeed.

All right, Dana, don't go too far away. We're going to continue this conversation.

But there's another big story, breaking news story we're following right now. Take a look at this, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, only moments ago arriving for his meeting with President Trump at the White House.

Prime Minister Netanyahu says the war with Iran will certainly be at the top of his agenda. And just a short time ago, President Trump wrapped up a separate meeting with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Both leaders are here in Washington for Lindsey Graham's funeral, and they are looking to bolster support from President Trump for the wars with Iran and with Russia.

Let's go live right now to our senior White House reporter, Betsy Klein, at the White House.

So what's the latest on these meetings, Betsy?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, it's a very consequential morning of meetings for President Trump here at the White House, underscoring this critical moment for the Russia war in Ukraine, as well as the war with Iran, and also just how profoundly President Trump's relationship with these two leaders has changed in recent months.

First up was President Zelenskyy of Ukraine arriving in the 9:00 hour. He met with the president for just about an hour, and that meeting stayed closed to press, meaning there were no cameras inside. So we are asking our sources what happened there, whether there was any progress toward restarting those stalled peace talks.

It comes as President Trump has forecast some optimism about a potential peace deal, even as we are seeing so much violence in the area, both sides launching drone strikes just overnight.

And then, not four minutes after Zelenskyy's motorcade pulled away, we saw Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu arrive here at the West Wing. He really is meeting with President Trump at a moment of strain for that relationship.

And he was expected to present Trump with fresh intelligence about Iran's nuclear and military rebuilding. President Trump, of course, has been very frustrated with this conflict with Iran. It comes as we have seen a halt in fighting after that cease-fire deal fell apart, and then we saw 13 consecutive nights of strikes.

Now they are giving those diplomatic talks some space to progress, but ahead of that meeting with Netanyahu, very notable comments from President Trump downplaying any pressure to escalate this conflict from Netanyahu. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't need Bibi to tell me that. Bibi's telling me that because he wants me to stay involved. I know exactly what's going on at Pickaxe. It's not a big problem. We took out their nuclear sites, and we will have to take out Pickaxe if we don't make a deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KLEIN: Trump again threatened to target critical infrastructure, things like bridges and power plants, which some have warned could constitute war crimes.

But the president, according to sources, has very little appetite for an escalation in this conflict. He said in that FOX News interview that they are having right now some very good talks, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Betsy Klein at the White House, we will stay in touch with you as well -- Pamela.

BROWN: All right, Wolf, with us now, our CNN global affairs analyst, Kim Dozier, and CNN chief international security correspondent Nick Paton Walsh, who is in London.

Kim, I want to start with you.

Netanyahu's relationship with President Trump appears to have cooled off a bit as of late. Is it as strained as outwardly -- as it outwardly appears? What's your sense?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, Netanyahu promised a lot in that to get Trump to agree to a joint attack on Iran, that the Iranian government would fall quickly, that the Iranian people would likely rise up, et cetera.

So Trump put a lot on the line, and it hasn't paid off. Instead, it has gotten him into this intractable war, where Iran has weaponized the Strait of Hormuz, and it doesn't look like continued bombing is changing their strategic calculus.

So, from Trump's perspective, Netanyahu has some explaining to do. From Netanyahu's perspective, he needs to finish the job. That's the pressure coming from the Israeli public. When you look at Iran's nuclear capability, CNN's own reporting shows that many of the nuclear sites that got buried by the bombing, Iran has been quickly able to dig out and access.

[11:20:08]

So, Netanyahu will be saying we have got to somehow secure those sites and finish this job to keep Israel safe and also it's Netanyahu's own political legacy on the line.

BROWN: Yes, and you heard Trump this morning say that he didn't need Netanyahu to inform of what was going on and that Netanyahu was saying that he needs to stay involved.

It was really interesting, though, to hear that, Trump talking about he doesn't need Netanyahu to tell him about the intelligence.

DOZIER: Yes. Well, each man has been taking grief at home for allegedly being in the pocket or the puppet of the other one. So Trump is a little bit sensitive about that. But in terms of intelligence, yes, U.S. intelligence has also been showing the same thing, that, while Iran has lost a lot of its conventional military capability, many of the key nuclear sites remain out of reach even from bunker-busters, leaving Trump with a difficult choice.

Does he send in some sort of special ops mission that would probably take several days, if not weeks, and involve loss of American life and risk tumbling into a full-scale boots-on-the-ground invasion?

BROWN: And so you have Netanyahu there at the White House, and you also had President Zelenskyy of Ukraine, who visited with President Trump.

And on that note, Nick, Ukraine attacked a ship in the Caspian Sea after saying it was bringing weapons to Russia. We're also seeing Ukraine continue to launch these drone attacks right inside Russia. Does this help Zelenskyy show Trump that Ukraine is still holding its own with Russia?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, ultimately, I think Zelenskyy has gone off and done what Trump had wanted Ukraine to do during that acrimonious meeting early last year and essentially stand on its own two feet and bring something to the table for the United States.

It's the U.S. that's shown interest in Ukrainian drone technology and learning from Ukraine's experience on the front lines there. The strike on that Iranian ship in the Caspian Sea, the timing of that no coincidence, clearly a message publicly bagpiped almost by President Zelenskyy to ensure that President Trump was aware of how acutely useful Ukraine could be as an ally there.

The conflicts not merging, but certainly the fact that Iran's been assisting Russia now very much to the fore and their dual purpose ultimately there. Remember that the last meeting they had in Ankara around the NATO meeting, President Trump offered potentially to allow Ukraine to build its own Patriot interceptor missiles, an ultimate ask from the Ukrainians, and really some of the best technology the Americans can offer them.

It's unclear how practically that's going to work. Still, that will be high on the agenda here, and indeed how quickly Ukraine can materialize that, bring it to the fore, when they're seeing a record number of ballistic missiles fired at them by Russia every single night.

But these two men's relationship transformed to some degree from the acrimony we saw last year. It's really unclear, though, how that practically translates. And there's two other questions to be solved. What happens to diplomacy here that appears to have stalled?

There was thoughts the Europeans might take up the mantle somehow. And also, secondly, what happens in winter? Putin is clearly beginning another mobilization soon. Ukraine has warned they may have 30,000 North Korean troops potentially on the way, Zelenskyy has recently warned.

So while the headlines are very much about Ukraine's recent successes in long-range drone strikes and freezing Russian progress on the front line, that may not last forever. And we know the president likes a winner. That's potentially Ukraine on a small scale for now.

Does that last into the winter? Possibly not. Ukraine will potentially be on the receiving end of a strong winter barrage, and so I think Zelenskyy's going to be very keen to see the materialization of the things he wants from the United States now, not promises in the future, but a very different tone, I'm sure, behind closed doors between these two men.

BROWN: And Zelenskyy, as we know, has lost a huge ally here in the United States with Lindsey Graham's death. Lindsey Graham was a vocal supporter of Ukraine. He had just come back from Ukraine just before his death.

Is there anyone else on the Republican side who could step in and take up that cause in the way he did, in your view, Nick?

WALSH: I mean, we are seeing a slight change potentially in some of the tone, particularly around the MAGA movement, a key high-profile visit by Laura Loomer, the right-wing activist, high-profile activist, who's very much known to have the president's ear here.

That certainly I think is a sign of how some of that MAGA movement potentially are rethinking their often, many have said, pro-Russian position here. Are there any particular flag bearers amongst the Republican Senate at this point? It's unclear at this stage.

[11:25:00]

But I think it's also important to point out the longer we see Secretary of State Marco Rubio increasingly involved as national security adviser and secretary of state in the policy around Ukraine. I think there will be some kind of a bedrock there of conventional Republican consistency.

They need money, yes. They need weapons. That's all slowed, but I still think there will be many in Ukraine hopeful that they can find a generous audience during this visit.

BROWN: All right, Nick Paton Walsh, Kim Dozier, thank you both -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, we're showing our viewers right now some live pictures from Capitol Hill. Take a look at this. The memorial service for the late Senator Lindsey Graham has just wrapped up in the Rotunda up on Capitol Hill and is about to be taken, the casket, over across Washington, D.C., to the National Cathedral in Washington, where another memorial service will begin.

The president of the United States will be speaking at the National Cathedral service as well.

We will have special coverage of all of that as we continue our SITUATION ROOM special report.

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BLITZER: All right, you're looking at live pictures from the U.S. Capitol right now.

The casket of the late Senator Lindsey Graham is about to be removed from the Capitol down those stairs into a vehicle to take that casket over to the National Cathedral here in Washington for another memorial service inside the National Cathedral.

And we will at that point hear not only from the president of the United States, President Trump, but from others as well, and there will be a very moving prayer service, a very moving musical service. And we will have special coverage of all of that.

BROWN: Yes. And so, later today, at 2:00 p.m. Eastern time, there will be another service at the National Cathedral. And, there, we are expected to hear Donald Trump make his remarks in honor of his friend and occasional golf partner Lindsey Graham.

As you know, Wolf, we have been discussing this morning they didn't start off on a great foot, right? There were lots of ups and downs in their relationship. But I think the two men grew to have a mutual respect for one another.

And President Trump made clear -- oh, let's watch this moment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ready. Step. Ready. Step. Ready. Step.

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