It was 2:35 am et Sunday.The phone rang, yanking me out of deep slumber.Calls like these are never good.In the split second before I answered the phone, my mind traveled to the obvious place for any journalist who covers Capitol Hill and gets a call at that hour.LINDSEY GRAHAM, SOUTH CAROLINA SENATOR WHO ROSE FROM SMALL-TOWN ROOTS TO GOP POWER BROKER, DIES AT 71Former U.S.Sen.
Lindsey Graham hugs his sister Darline Graham Nordone on June 1, 2015, in South Carolina.(Jessica McGowan/Getty Images)Surely it was about former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).McConnell has been out of service and nowhere to be found for weeks — after being hospitalized with an unspecified illness.
The internet was rife with conspiracy theories and conjecture.And, considering the dearth of information, I suspected the worst.My longtime colleague Jodie Curtis was on the line when I picked up.
Jodie is a senior figure at Fox, forced into weekend overnight assignment editor duty because of an illness.Jodie calling to tell me that Sen.
Lindsey Graham (R-SC) was dead."Graham?" I asked incredulously."Not McConnell?"Emerging from my stupor, I instinctively presumed this might be about the infirm, Kentucky Republican.
You’d have better odds presuming that overnight call was about McConnell than hitting an exacta wheel at Churchill Downs.My instincts immediately kicked in.What if this was psy-ops by the Russians, Chinese or Iranians.A rouse.
A hoax.A hack.I told my colleague to just wait a moment while we confirmed.
It would be easy to get this wrong.Back in the 1990s, lawmakers "killed" comedian Bob Hope on the House floor, prematurely announcing his death during special orders speeches.Yours truly – and everyone else in Washington – prematurely reported the death of the late Rep.
Stephanie Tubbs-Jones (D-OH).She suffered from a catastrophic brain aneurism.
Yet after they removed the Congresswoman from life support, she continued to live for a few hours before dying.Ho...