Newly released documentary footage shows the late Sen. Lindsey Graham describing his years-long push for war with Iran as “the best thing I’ve ever done.” The footage also shows Graham comparing President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to former President Franklin D. Roosevelt and former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the footage comes from a documentary by British filmmaker Alex Holder, who said he recorded more than 400 hours of material on Graham over several years, including in the months before the senator’s death. Holder said the footage includes behind-the-scenes access to Graham’s calls and meetings with world leaders.
Graham died earlier this month at age 71. Memorial services are scheduled to be held this week in Washington and in his home state of South Carolina.
Filmmaker describes years of access to senator’s calls and meetings
Holder told CNN‘s Manu Raju on Inside Politics that he had an unusual level of access to Graham over roughly four and a half years. “It was pretty remarkable, and we had this four-and-a-half-year period of just the most, really unparalleled access, to one of the most consequential politicians in the United States,” Holder said.
The documentary includes footage of calls between Graham and Trump, Netanyahu, and former Democratic national security adviser Jake Sullivan, as Graham voiced support for the war effort. Graham had a reputation in Washington as a war hawk, and the footage shows him urging Trump to take further action involving Israel during conversations with Netanyahu.
In one clip, Graham said of his efforts, “It’s the best thing I’ve ever done. He loves blowing stuff up.” Speaking about Trump, Graham also said, “He hasn’t tweeted much at all. No drama. He’s been a great wartime president. I said last night that Trump and Bibi are like Roosevelt and Churchill.”
An unnamed longtime Trump adviser told CNN earlier this month that Graham had become one of Trump’s most trusted advisers on major foreign policy issues over the past decade. The adviser said Trump did not always agree with Graham, including on the extent of U.S. support for Ukraine and on efforts to negotiate an end to the Iran war, but respected him nonetheless.
“He looked at Lindsey as one of his foreign policy experts,” the adviser said. “He didn’t always agree with him, but I think he respected him.”
Holder said the relationship between Graham and Trump was not always without friction, and said additional footage addressing that dynamic has not yet been released. “That, you’ll have to stay tuned for,” Holder said, referring to forthcoming material on the relationship. He did not offer a timeline for when that footage might surface.
The footage also includes predictions Graham made in March during a call with Sullivan about the expected course of the conflict with Iran. “In three to four weeks, we should have them in a spot where they start losing control of some cities … get the Arabs more openly involved tomorrow, or by the end of the week, and then have almost irreversible momentum,” Graham said at the time.
Some of those predictions did not match how the conflict actually unfolded. Graham had previously voiced concerns over the ceasefire terms reached between the U.S. and Iran.
He argued at the time that Washington and Tehran appeared to be operating from different understandings of what the agreement actually required. He had also predicted the deal could collapse, telling reporters at the time that he doubted the ceasefire would hold. He went on to lay out what he expected Trump’s next move to be if the deal did, in fact, fail.
Published: Jul 27, 2026 11:15 am