‘Makes me sick’: Lindsey Graham’s sister slams Jack Smith over late senator’s records
WASHINGTON, DC: Senator Darline Graham confronted former special counsel Jack Smith on Tuesday, September 29, over his team’s collection of phone records belonging to her late brother, Senator Lindsey Graham, turning a contentious Senate hearing into an unusually personal exchange.
Jack Smith didn’t have an answer for me when I asked him how he thought my brother Lindsey or anyone else was going to destroy evidence not in their possession.
— Darline Graham (@DarlineGrahamSC) September 29, 2026
You know why? It’s because Jack Smith was trying to bully allies of President Trump — and he weaponized our legal…
Darline, who was appointed to Lindsey’s South Carolina seat in July after his death, told Smith that the anguish she believed his investigation caused her brother “makes me sick.”
Smith responded by saying Lindsey was not a target and would likely have been a witness in the federal case examining Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Darline Graham confronts Smith over records
Darline accused Smith of putting her brother through unnecessary stress and directly challenged his handling of the investigation.
The confrontation came during a Judiciary Committee hearing focused on Smith’s conduct as special counsel and his team’s subpoenas for Republican lawmakers’ phone records.
Graham: Do you really believe Lindsey was going to destroy evidence that was not even in his possession?
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 29, 2026
Smith: I believe your brother was a patriotic public servant. He was not a target of our investigation. In fact, he likely would have been a witness in our case. Your… pic.twitter.com/5AeQefcr9Q
Smith maintained that investigators did not treat Lindsey as a suspect.
He told Darline that he regarded her brother as a “patriotic public servant” and said Lindsey would likely have been called as a witness had the election case reached trial.
Smith’s investigation sought toll records showing details such as when calls were made and how long they lasted, rather than the contents of those conversations.
He has previously said investigators needed the information to establish contacts between Trump and lawmakers as they examined the effort to challenge the 2020 election results.
Smith invokes Lindsey’s election role
Smith also pointed to Lindsey’s own actions during the aftermath of the 2020 election.
“Your brother investigated the claims that Donald Trump was making,” Smith told Darline, according to the hearing exchange.
He said Lindsey had concluded those claims were false.
Lindsey had become an important Republican voice in the post-election dispute.
His interactions with Trump and other officials were examined during investigations into efforts to challenge Joe Biden’s victory.
Smith’s team later considered Lindsey a potential witness rather than an accused participant.
The issue became part of a broader congressional fight over federal investigators obtaining lawmakers’ communications data.
The Senate Judiciary Committee says its oversight has identified dozens of subpoenas involving congressional accounts, including records associated with Republican lawmakers.
Family legacy collides with subpoena fight
Lindsey Graham had publicly objected to Smith’s use of congressional phone records before his death.
In 2025, he backed legislation that would have allowed senators to seek financial damages when federal authorities obtained their electronic records without notification, a provision Democrats and Republicans later fought over.
Darline was appointed to Lindsey’s vacant Senate seat on July 13 and sworn in the following day, according to the Senate.
Her appearance before Smith therefore carried both an institutional and personal dimension as she questioned the prosecutor whose investigation had become a source of dispute for her brother.
