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In a Sunday talk show appearance, President Donald Trump used the death of Senator Lindsey Graham the day prior as a get-out-of-answering-questions-free card.The weekend saw the unexpected death of the Republican senator at age 71. It also saw the United States and Iran trade fire in the Middle East, reaffirming the apparent collapse of the June memorandum of understanding between the two countries. When CNN’s State of the Union host Jake Tapper queried Trump about the latter development, the president used the former as an excuse not to answer.“Are we back at war, and who controls the Strait of the Hormuz?” Tapper asked. Before he had even finished the question, the president was dodging it: “Well I don’t want to—out of respect for Lindsey, I’m not talking about that. We hit ’em very hard last night, so I don’t want to talk about it, but I will say we hit ’em very hard last night.” The president went on to allege that Iran’s leaders had been “giving up everything” during talks on Saturday before they turned on a dime, hitting “a ship with a drone.” Such rhetoric is consistent with Trump’s past attempts to portray Iran, despite the evidence to the contrary, as desperate and on the verge of surrender.“These people, there’s something wrong with them,” Trump said of Iran, “but I’m talking about a man who had nothing wrong with him, and that’s Lindsey Graham.”Later in the interview, Tapper tried again to get information about the war out of Trump, asking if the Strait of Hormuz is closed as Iran has claimed. But his luck was no better this time, with the president responding, “It’s open as far as we’re concerned. Don’t talk about it. Talk about the reason that you asked me to speak.”Come Monday morning, Iran and the U.S. were both claiming to be in control of the strait.

The sudden death of Senator Lindsey Graham over the weekend makes things tougher for his fellow Republicans.Several Senate votes loom in the coming weeks, including the confirmations of acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Jay Clayton for director of national intelligence, Erica Schwartz for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Keith Sonderling for secretary of labor, and David Cummins to lead the Transportation Security Administration. On top of that, votes for the National Defense Authorization Act, the main funding bill for the military, are coming up this week.Graham was also chair of the Senate Budget Committee, and a new reconciliation bill is coming up, with potential tax changes.“The last time he and I sat down, we talked about doing the third reconciliation bill and having another big tax cut,” said Club for Growth president David McIntosh to Politico. “Lindsey was all for that.”Other big votes on Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s agenda include a new Russia sanctions bill and an attempt to renew the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. President Trump, meanwhile, is still pushing for his voter suppression bill, the SAVE Act.Graham also was a key intermediary between the Senate and the White House, and Trump is going to have to find someone new to fill that void who is respected in the chamber. Trump likes Senator Rick Scott, but he isn’t well respected in the chamber, one White House official told Politico, adding that “I could see [Alabama Senator] Katie Britt trying to fill that void.”A few candidates have popped up to fill Graham’s South Carolina Senate seat, including former Representative Troy Gowdy and the state’s lieutenant governor, Pamela Evette. Gowdy has the support of South Carolina’s other senator, Tim Scott, who has reportedly been making calls around the state on his behalf. Evette is reportedly favored by Governor Henry McMaster, who under state law can appoint a successor to fill out the rest of Graham’s term. A quick primary will be held in the coming weeks to name a new Republican nominee for the November general election.Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has also emerged as a possible new senator, reportedly receiving calls to put his name forward, and Graham’s sister, Darline Graham Nordone, has been brought up by some Republicans. It will be interesting to see whether McMaster goes for a caretaker pick, or a long-term appointment. Trump could also weigh in and endorse a candidate. For now, though, Trump and Thune will want the vote of that immediate appointee as soon as possible.

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The United States and Israel earlier this month signed a deal allocating land for a permanent U.S. Embassy in West Jerusalem — years after a temporary embassy was established during Trump’s first term in office. Palestinian families have pleaded with the U.S. government to reconsider the embassy’s planned location, saying the site in the area known as the Allenby compound was unlawfully taken from them decades ago. Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said professor emeritus of modern Arab studies at Columbia University, belongs to one of the families that has claims to the land. “So, here we have the U.S. government signing an agreement with the Israeli government to lease land the Israeli government has no right to, to which … we and many other families have title, in order to establish an illegal embassy in Jerusalem, which is in violation of repeated U.N. Security Council resolutions.” Khalidi also comments on the ongoing fight to save the centuries-old Mamilla Cemetery in Jerusalem, “one of the most sacred and holy sites to Muslims.” Israel has gradually taken over the cemetery, replacing it with a museum, parks and parking lots.

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