Emergency responders performed CPR at Lindsey Graham's home, dispatch audio shows

Responders forced entry after deadbolt locked, dispatch audio indicates

Emergency responders sent to Sen. Lindsey Graham’s home Saturday night performed CPR on an individual suffering from cardiac arrest, according to dispatch audio reviewed by the Wall Street Journal.

Shortly before 8:30 p.m. Saturday, D.C.’s Fire and EMS responded to a report of chest pains at a home on South Capitol Street, a few blocks south of the U.S. Capitol, that public records list as one of Graham’s addresses.

Minutes later, officials radioed that a caller who reached 911 — an unidentified woman who said she wasn’t in the home and was driving from Baltimore to the address — had told dispatchers his front door was unlocked.

But crews on scene reported the deadbolt was secured, and said they were getting no answer. “Have you tried knocking at the door to see if the patient will answer?” the dispatcher asked. “Yes, repeatedly,” they replied, according to audio captured by openmhz.com.

At 8:35 p.m., after a dispatcher asked whether they wanted a ladder truck or the police, officials responded that they would force entry and requested help from D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department.

More than 15 minutes later, responders radioed that CPR was in progress. Dispatchers sent an EMS supervisor to assist crews on scene with a “cardiac arrest.”

The dispatch calls don’t mention Graham by name, and referred to the patient as being 73 years old. The senator was 71.

Graham’s office said the senator died after a brief and sudden illness Saturday evening, but declined to elaborate. A spokesman for Graham didn’t respond to requests for comment.

In a social-media post on Sunday morning, Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel said his agency “is assisting local authorities and has made every necessary resource available.”