President Donald Trump has spoken out on the FBI's involvement in the investigation into the sudden death of Senator Lindsey Graham, stating that the bureau is "wasting their time" and expressing his wish that the senator had taken better care of himself while alive.
Speaking to reporters at the White House alongside Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi on Tuesday, Trump addressed questions about why FBI agents had been seen at Graham's home following his death on Saturday.
Trump noted that Graham had a genetic health issue similar to what claimed his father's life at roughly the same age, and suggested that the senator might have been able to avoid his fate with better self-care.
Trump stated, "I wish he took better care of himself. I say, you can solve that problem. His father had a very similar problem, as you know. It's very unique. At first, I heard it was clogged arteries. Because he did have clogged arteries. He had a problem with that."
The president continued, "I wish he took better care of himself. I say, you can solve that problem. But what happened is actually something that's very hard to detect. It was not related to any blockage. It was a totally different thing. And supposedly, and I watched all the medical reports, I've had the doctors from the White House come in and explain what happened."
Trump went on to say, "This is something that is almost undetectable, and if it happens there's not much you can do about it. Sounds unfortunate, but there's not much you can do about it. If you look at his father, died of the same thing at about the same age. So, they say it's almost undetectable. You can detect it by if you have a very bad back — that's a sign."
The president acknowledged the conspiracy theories surrounding Graham's death but pushed back against the idea of criminality, stating that he did not believe the FBI needed to be involved in that way.
"I know there's all sorts of conspiracy theories going along, and I don't think the FBI— I think the FBI is wasting their time if they're doing that," Trump said.
