Nothing says "out of an abundance of caution" quite like nearly 20 federal agents from multiple agencies descending on a dead senator's row house on Capitol Hill.
Less than 48 hours after Sen. Lindsey Graham died Saturday evening from an aortic dissection, FBI agents were spotted swarming his Washington, D.C., home on Monday, as Trending Politics reported. Video from the scene showed at least six men and two women decked out in FBI gear moving in and out of Graham's Capitol Hill residence. Because when a 71-year-old man dies of cardiovascular disease, you apparently send in enough agents to staff a small field office.
The choreography at the scene was something else. A man in a U.S. Marshals Service jacket exited the home, and then an FBI agent entered. Two more agents in those unmistakable blue-and-yellow FBI windbreakers went inside after that. Meanwhile, another agent stood guard near a large black container outside. At one point, someone retrieved a manila folder from the container. Very cloak and dagger for what authorities keep insisting is a routine situation.
Graham's office described his cause of death as a "brief and sudden illness." The District of Columbia's chief medical examiner followed up Sunday with a preliminary ruling that the South Carolina Republican died from an aortic dissection caused by arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease. That is a medical way of saying his aorta tore apart because of hardened arteries, which is tragically common and not typically the kind of thing that warrants a federal response team.
And yet here we are.
FBI Director Kash Patel said Sunday that the bureau was "assisting local authorities and has made every necessary resource available" following Graham's death. The FBI then declined to elaborate further on Patel's statement, which is the federal government's version of "no further questions."
Metropolitan Police Department Chief Jeffery Carroll confirmed his department is leading the investigation. A law enforcement source told NewsNation's Jackie Koppell on Monday that the MPD remains the lead agency, with the FBI just pitching in with assistance and resources. So the MPD is driving, and the FBI called shotgun plus brought seven friends.
In a joint statement with Carroll, the office of D.C. Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Francisco Diaz said it will "take time" to complete comprehensive toxicological and microscopic testing. Those tests will determine whether Graham had any substances in his system at the time of his death.
So to recap: a senator died of a cardiovascular event, the medical examiner already issued a preliminary cause of death, there is reportedly no new evidence since Saturday night, and the federal government responded by sending a small army to his house to retrieve manila folders. If this is what "abundance of caution" looks like, one can only imagine what actual suspicion would bring. Probably a helicopter.
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