Newly released documentary footage captured by filmmaker Alex Holder reveals the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) strongly backing the war in Iran and drawing parallels between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with historical leaders Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill.

The footage, recorded over hundreds of hours with Graham dating back to 2023, shows the senator expressing satisfaction with the initial wave of U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran. “We’ve done it,” Graham said with a laugh in his office during the early days of the conflict, according to The Wall Street Journal. “I almost cried.”

Graham, who died earlier this month from an aortic dissection, also recounted speaking with Trump the morning of the strikes. He described the military action as the “best thing I’ve ever done” and noted Trump’s focus and restraint during wartime, saying, “He… hasn’t tweeted much at all. No drama, he’s been a great wartime president.”

In the footage obtained by CNN, Graham outlined strategic goals, telling former President Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan, “What we’re trying to do is just get a few cities to fall in the next month, get the Arabs more openly involved tomorrow or by the end of the week and just have almost irreversible momentum.” However, his prediction on March 4 that the Iranian regime would lose control of some cities within three to four weeks did not materialize.

During an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Holder emphasized the significance of the footage, stating it shows how “consequential” Graham was in persuading Trump to launch the war alongside Netanyahu.

Sources