Trump commemorates Graham’s life — with sunny Netanyahu and Zelenskyy meetings

President Donald Trump may have given the late Sen. Lindsey Graham a parting gift on Tuesday. The president hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House, a move many in Washington saw as a fitting tribute to a senator who was a fierce ally and advocate for both countries. And the two meetings, happening the morning of the late senator’s funeral service at the Washington National Cathedral, appear to have gone, well — well. Officials from all three countries offered sunny readouts of the meetings, and the high-stakes day proceeded without any obvious blowups or missteps. Zelenskyy and Trump discussed the top U.S. peace envoys visiting Kyiv, as well as the agreement they reached earlier this month on licenses to produce Patriot interceptor missiles. Netanyahu, in a video statement in Hebrew, described his meeting as “one of the best conversations” he’s had with Trump. While the ever-mercurial Trump could still easily unravel the good vibes with a Truth Social post, it is exactly the kind of readout Graham would have hoped for out of the meetings. Hours before his death, Graham was in Kyiv meeting with Zelenskyy and touring a local defense and drone manufacturing facility — and the late senator has long been one of Israel’s staunchest allies in Congress and was a strong supporter of the war in Iran. “He probably would take some satisfaction that his funeral was an occasion for such important high-level meetings on two major international crises,” said Daniel Shapiro, a U.S. ambassador to Israel during the Obama administration and a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council. “Somewhere he’s probably smiling.” A senior Israeli official who accompanied Netanyahu to the meeting, who like others in this story was granted anonymity to discuss details of the meetings candidly, described the session as “extremely positive,” saying that it focused on “the key issues of the day, first and foremost Iran” and that the two leaders “reaffirmed their ironclad commitment to ensuring that Iran never has nuclear weapons.” A second person familiar with the meeting said Netanyahu indicated the meeting had gone well. Zelenskyy was similarly upbeat in his assessment of his confab with Trump. In a post on X, the Ukrainian president said the two men discussed the licenses for Patriots — which Trump announced at his last meeting with the Ukrainian president in Ankara earlier this month — along with “several other ideas” that could help Ukraine. And that meeting may have produced at least one deliverable: Special envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff are expected to soon visit Kyiv to renew diplomatic efforts to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. A Ukrainian official said they “promised” to visit Kyiv; however, a White House official said the duo was supposed to be part of Graham’s final visit to Kyiv shortly before his death but couldn’t make it, and that they would like to make a future visit. A second top Ukrainian official said that negotiating teams will continue to work on ideas from the meeting. “It’s important that the diplomatic process be reinvigorated,” Zelenskyy said in his post. The White House affirmed the positive tone of the meetings, which were both subdued, closed-press affairs, perhaps a nod to the serious nature of the conversations. Each leader arrived via West Executive Avenue and entered through a side door, instead of a more public West Wing driveway arrival, avoiding the usual spectacle of an Oval Office visit. “President Trump has concluded his meetings in the Oval Office with President Zelenskyy and Prime Minister Netanyahu,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on X just after noon on Tuesday. “Both meetings were positive and productive!” Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attended both meetings, according to photos provided by the Israelis and Ukrainians. Vice President JD V