The death of the Republican US senator Lindsey Graham would have been due to a cardiac pathology, specifically an "aortic dissection caused by atherosclerosis," according to a preliminary analysis prepared by the office of the chief medical examiner of the District of Columbia, Francisco Diaz.
"The findings of the preliminary examination were: aortic dissection due to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease," the report states, detailing that "all toxicological and microscopic tests" must still be completed, after which the official death certificate will be issued. The document was disseminated by Graham's spokesperson, Taylor Reidy, through her social media profiles.
In a joint note, the chief of the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, Jeffrery Carrol, and Diaz have recalled that "whenever an autopsy is performed in the District of Columbia, the pathologist also orders comprehensive toxicological tests and a microscopic analysis." "Both processes require time," they pointed out, according to the newspaper 'Politico'.
Graham, a senator for South Carolina and considered one of the staunchest supporters of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, died on Saturday at the age of 71, as confirmed by his office, which attributed the death to a "brief and sudden illness."
The death of Graham, who held the chairmanship of the Senate Budget Committee, has been a strong blow to the neoconservative sector of the Republican Party. The senator had participated in a public event on Friday during a visit to Ukraine, and it remains to be determined how his absence will affect the balance of power in the Upper House, where Republicans hold a very narrow majority.