Former CIA analyst Fred Fleitz told Newsmax on Sunday that President Donald Trump has lost one of his closest and most trusted foreign policy advisers with the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham.
Fleitz told Newsmax's "Wake Up America Weekend" that Graham, who died Saturday night after what was described as a brief and sudden illness, played an influential role in shaping Trump's views on Israel, Ukraine, and Iran.
"He was a powerful and influential voice for American and global security," Fleitz said. "Leaders around the world knew and trusted him."
Fleitz said Graham maintained especially close ties with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while consistently advocating for strong U.S.-Israel relations.
"He believed in the America First doctrine, that there should be no daylight between the United States and Israel," Fleitz said.
More importantly, Fleitz said, Graham enjoyed a level of access to Trump that few lawmakers possessed.
"He gave Trump incredibly valuable advice on how to deal with security threats for our country, security threats for our ally Israel, and how to deal with the threats in Ukraine," he said.
Fleitz said Graham and Trump spoke regularly and noted the two were in contact shortly before the senator's death.
"The president spoke to him last night. Possibly Graham's last phone call may have been with President Trump, and it was about his trip to Ukraine," Fleitz said.
Graham had just returned from Kyiv, where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and continued pushing bipartisan legislation to impose tougher sanctions on Russia.
Fleitz said Graham's absence leaves a significant void for the administration.
"I think President Trump is going to miss him because I think when Trump saw a difficult development with Ukraine or Israel, he called Sen. Graham," Fleitz said. "Actually, what would probably happen, Sen. Graham called him to tell the president, 'Here's what's going on. Here's what you need to know.'"
Fleitz said Graham also strongly supported Trump's efforts to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
"He thought that an Iranian nuclear weapon was unacceptable," Fleitz said. "President Trump agreed with him."
Although Graham and Trump occasionally clashed earlier in Trump's political career, Fleitz said the two ultimately forged a close working relationship that strengthened U.S. foreign policy.
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