Trump beats back FBI investigation of Lindsey Graham's death as insider reveals Russian hit would look 'natural'

By VICTORIA CHURCHILL, US POLITICAL REPORTER Published: 21:58, 14 July 2026 | Updated: 21:58, 14 July 2026 President Donald Trump revealed doctors told him a part of Lindsey Graham's body 'literally blew up' as questions swirl over the senator's sudden death last weekend. 'Well, I think we do,' Trump told Newsmax in a phone interview Monday, when asked whether the full story was out. 'We've had great doctors, and they talked about, you know, a certain part of his body literally blew up.' But at the White House on Tuesday, the president was more emphatic, dismissing talk of foul play, saying he had heard 'all sorts of conspiracy theories' and that the 'FBI is wasting their time' investigating. A preliminary cause of death has been issued for the South Carolina Republican, 71, but some experts want further investigation. Among them is Graham's former Senate colleague, Texas Senator John Cornyn, who said Monday the toxicology results must be seen.  'Given where he was and the sorts of things he was advocating for, I think we just ought to resolve all those questions by seeing what the toxicology reports show,' he told NBC News. Graham's spokesperson said the death certificate 'will be pending until all the toxicological and microscopic testing are finalized,' and will then be updated to reflect the cause and manner of death. FBI director Kash Patel said Sunday his agency had stepped in to 'assist' local DC authorities. The Daily Mail spoke Monday with Graham's neighbors, who were interviewed after an estimated 20 agents descended on his house. Lindsey Graham and President Donald Trump enjoyed a close friendship during his final years US Senator John Cornyn speaks to reporters during a Senate vote at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, USA, June 23, 2026 Cornyn is not the only Republican who has concerns over the circumstances surrounding Graham's death, given that he had just returned from Ukraine and was in the process of announcing a bipartisan bill to sanction Russia.  In an interview with News Nation host Katie Pavlich, retired Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg said that foul play in Graham's death, particularly by Russia, should not be ruled out. 'I'm not a conspiracy nut, but I think a full autopsy and toxicology report needs to be done just to quell the waters, and make sure everything quiets down about it.' 'I mean it's unfortunate that's what's happened, but as you said, I don't trust the Russians at all, that they would do something like this, I wouldn't be surprised by it,' Kellogg added. Kellogg has served in Special Presidential Envoy for Ukraine and Russia, and National Security Advisor to the Vice President, holding jobs in both Trump administrations.  Kellogg's daughter, Megan Mobbs, a former Army officer and West Point graduate who serves as the Director of the Center for American Safety and Security at the Independent Women's Forum, has also called for further investigations into Graham's death.  In an interview with the Daily Mail, Mobbs revealed why she thinks a toxicological report is so critical, given the circumstances surrounding Graham's final days.  'What I'm really hoping for is that it's a toxicological examination that is informed by everything: the foreign threat environment, international travel, symptoms, timeline, medications, meals, contacts, potential exposure,' Mobbs noted to the Daily Mail. Retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg a former Trump adviser, speaks to the media in the lobby at Trump Tower, November 15, 2016 in New York City Meaghan Mobbs,  Director of the Center for American Safety and Security at the Independent Women's Forum, a conservative think tank Mobbs told the Daily Mail that a sophisticated operation would be built precisely to look natural. 'A sophisticated assassination operation would exploit natural vulnerability - that's what our adversaries are very good at - and purposefully obscure attribution so that it could produce a medically plausible death,' she said. She noted that with older patients, medical examiners do not always look for secondary factors, and warned that a lack of transparency hands adversaries fresh openings. 'I just want as many questions answered as possible, so the unanswered ones don't dominate the conversation,' she added. Her father, Trump's Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg, has long believed the Russians tried to kill him in 2000, when he was an officer at the Pentagon. He has recounted feeling a sharp pain in his right elbow as he left an event at the Russian Embassy.  By the next day he was in the hospital, where doctors nearly amputated his arm to stop a spreading staph infection that Mobbs recalled was 'significantly treatment-resistant' and took months to heal. Mobbs also renewed her criticism of Representative Anna Paulina Luna, who she said 'is willing to give every conspiracy under the sun a thorough investigation and vetting' yet has asked no questions about Graham's death. Luna's office did not respond to a request for comment. Asked about Trump calling the FBI investigation a waste of time, Mobbs urged giving the president 'a lot of grace' as he grieves 'a dear, dear friend.'  His dismissal, she suggested, may reflect 'some level of psychological processing,' a reluctance to accept that 'an adversary could actually get to one of us,' given threats on his own life, some potentially tied to foreign actors.