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4h ago

Unreleased Footage Shows Lindsey Graham Pressing President Trump on Iran Strikes

The excerpts could reshape public understanding of how behind-the-scenes advocacy helped push the Iran strikes.

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U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) joins President Donald Trump to speak to reporters aboard Air Force One en route from Florida to Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S., January 4, 2026.
The documentary filmmaker Alex Holder spent years behind the scenes with Sen. Lindsey Graham, including in the months before his death, recording hundreds of hours of meetings with world leaders like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, candid moments and more. He speaks with CNN’s Manu Raju.

Overview

  • The Wall Street Journal and other outlets published excerpts on Sunday, July 26, from filmmaker Alex Holder’s unreleased material that show Graham saying President Trump was “jacked” and that the strikes were “the best thing I have ever done.”
  • The footage captures Graham in candid calls with President Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former national security adviser Jake Sullivan as he urged tougher action against Iran and celebrated U.S. strikes.
  • In a March call shown in the clips Graham predicted Iran would lose control of cities “in three to four weeks,” a timeline that has not materialized and that reporters describe as wildly off base.
  • Holder says he recorded more than 400 hours for a project titled Lindsey’s Game and plans to release the full film in coming months, a development reported as the documentary maker’s intention rather than a confirmed distribution date.
  • The recordings show Graham exhausted in his final weeks and include sensitive meetings that some participants said were filmed without their apparent consent, raising ethical and security questions that could affect public debate and Republican succession politics in South Carolina.