{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/news/press-releases/thune-joins-fox-news-cnn-and-newsmax-to-reflect-on-decades-long-friendship-with-senator-graham/", "Thune Joins Fox News, CNN, and Newsmax to Reflect on Decades-Long Friendship With Senator Graham", "2026-07-13", "2026", "2026-07", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/news/press-releases/", "scraper", "Click here to watch Fox News, here to watch CNN, and here to watch Newsmax.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined America\u2019s Newsroom on Fox News, Inside Politics on CNN, and The Record with Greta Van Susteren on Newsmax.\n\nOn Senator Graham\u2019s legacy:\n\n\u201cOn a personal level, he was a very good friend to me \u2026 He came out to my first campaign, my first House campaign in 1996. And then the last couple of years, he\u2019s been out in South Dakota with me, and we\u2019ve been just a lot of places together through the years. But more important than all of that is just the impact he\u2019s had on this country and the voice that he has been on so many issues that are critical to America\u2019s national security interests and to protecting the American people.\u201d\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve never seen anybody, honestly, who \u2026 had more energy, more passion \u2026 Sometimes we kind of find ourselves going through the motions here; Lindsey was never that way. He believed every day in what he was doing and why he was doing it. He had a great sense of mission and purpose, and that is absolutely going to be missed here.\u201d\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cLindsey was a bigger-than-life impact player in terms of the international scene, domestic politics, legislation, policy, things he was passionate about. But like you said, there are a lot of us who knew him as a close friend. He was that to me. He was a trusted advisor, somebody I could go to to give me straight advice and counsel, and just spent a lot of time through the years.\n\n\u201cAnd I\u2019m really, really, incredibly sad and still in shock, I think like a lot of people are, but we\u2019re doing our best to process it. And you know, we just have to make the best of the situation and do everything we can to honor and give tribute to Lindsey and his life and his impact and just the difference he made here as a public servant through all these years.\u201d\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cI can\u2019t imagine this place without Lindsey. I can\u2019t imagine the world writ large without Lindsey, for the incredible impact that he had on so many levels. Just so passionate about national security, obviously huge influence and voice on matters affecting judges and the judiciary. He was chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, got us through two reconciliation bills this last year. And of course, one of the strongest voices for the pro-life movement in this country.\u201d\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cIt is going to be very, very hard to envision the United States Senate, our country, certainly South Carolina, or for that matter the world, without Lindsey.\u201d\n\n[\u2026]\n\n\u201cHe was somebody who was fearless in the way he approached the legislative process. He was willing to take on tough issues and speak out about them. And of course, he had just one of the sharpest wits I\u2019ve ever been around, and he was able to use that when he communicated. He was a very gifted and talented communicator.\u201d", 1, "2026-07-14T07:08:55Z", "2026-07-14T07:10:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/news/press-releases/thune-joins-fox-news-cnn-and-newsmax-to-reflect-on-decades-long-friendship-with-senator-graham/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7324470207095146, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}