Footage captures Graham’s yearslong push to topple Iran regime

  • Sen. Lindsey Graham planned to travel to Florida in March to urge President Trump to join Israel in bombing Hezbollah in Lebanon, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talked him out of it on a phone call, according to unreleased documentary footage viewed by The Wall Street Journal.
  • The footage, captured by filmmaker Alex Holder since 2023, shows Graham expressing elation after U.S. strikes on Iran began in February, telling the crew, “Look what we’ve done here. I almost cried.”
  • Graham told Holder that Trump said the strikes were “the best thing I have ever done” and that Trump “loves blowing stuff up.”
  • The documentary also captures Graham’s frustration after Trump signed a preliminary deal with Iran in June, with Graham saying, “He’s letting this thing slip away.”

Documentary shows senator lobbying Trump, Netanyahu on war

In early March, Graham planned to travel to Florida to persuade Trump to join Israel in bombing Hezbollah in Lebanon, an operation he wanted to bring the U.S. into during the ongoing Iran war. Netanyahu told Graham on a March 4 call that bringing the U.S. into the Lebanon operation was going too far, too fast, according to the footage.

“We’re concentrating right now on Iran,” Netanyahu said on the call, which was conducted on speakerphone in Graham’s Senate office, according to the footage viewed by the Journal. “If we tell Hezbollah that we’re going all the way, we threaten them, but if we actually do it, then they have no reason not to go all the way against us. And right now that’s not our interest,” Netanyahu said.

“That’s actually good counsel,” Graham replied.

The exchange was captured by Holder, who was granted extensive access to Graham from 2023 until the senator’s death earlier this month. Holder is distilling hundreds of hours of raw footage for a documentary tentatively titled “Lindsey’s Game,” which he said he wants to release in the coming months.

The footage shows Graham’s yearslong quest to topple the Iranian regime and the ways in which he persuaded Trump to strike, at times pushing for even more aggressive action than Netanyahu was prepared to take. Graham let the documentary crew stay in the room for sensitive meetings, and some of the people Graham spoke with by phone told the Journal they did not know the calls were being recorded.

After U.S. strikes on Iran began in February, Graham expressed emotional relief. “Look what we’ve done here. I almost cried,” he told the crew, laughing loudly. “How long have we been pushing this?”

He then said Trump was equally happy about the war. “I talked to Trump this morning, he’s jacked, he said, ‘best thing I have ever done.’ He loves blowing stuff up,” Graham said.

Holder described how Graham characterized his role in the war as “a game.” “He would call what this was ‘a game,’” Holder said, describing Graham’s observation that a senator from South Carolina had a closer relationship with the Saudi Arabian leader than anyone in a Democratic or Republican administration.

The footage includes Graham flying to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to sell him on the war in Iran; calling military commanders about the war; speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky; and huddling with other world leaders.

Graham acknowledged his unusually deep access to Trump, telling Holder the president was easier to reach than Holder himself. Graham said Trump was “fun to be around” and he liked him, Holder said.

The documentary also captures Graham working the diplomatic channels. In March, Graham talked with Jake Sullivan, who was national security adviser under President Joe Biden, about the challenges of working with the Trump administration on Middle East negotiations. Graham told Sullivan the negotiations needed to be handled by Secretary of State Marco Rubio rather than Trump’s primary envoys, his son-in-law Jared Kushner and longtime friend Steve Witkoff.

“I can’t do it with Jared, and I can’t do it with Witkoff. They’re just too conflicted. It’s gotta be Rubio,” Graham said to Sullivan. A White House official said Graham, Witkoff and Kushner were close friends. “Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are excellent dealmakers whose results speak for themselves,” the official said.

When Sullivan asked Graham in March about how much longer the war in Iran was going to last, Graham offered a prediction that proved inaccurate. “In three to four weeks, we’re going to have them in a spot where they start losing control of some cities… get the Arabs more openly involved tomorrow, and then have almost irreversible momentum,” Graham said.

Graham expressed dismay that Republicans were not doing enough to back the war publicly. “Very few people are out selling this war from the administration. I’m shocked,” he said to the crew.

The footage also shows Graham’s frustration with Trump for signing a preliminary deal with Iran in June. In the project’s final interview, conducted at a bagel shop in Columbia, South Carolina, in June, Graham said even Trump was growing too wobbly on the war. “He’s letting this thing slip away,” Graham said. “I got to go talk to him.”

Holder said he noticed in the final weeks of Graham’s life that the senator frequently looked tired. When Holder asked if he was doing OK, Graham said he did not have time to sleep because he needed to finish off the Iranian regime, sort out a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, and establish ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel by the end of the year. At one point, Holder said, Graham complained that others were not helping him.

“There’s no way I can die yet,” Graham said, according to Holder.