(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) The D.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner appears to completed its determination on whether the body of late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., contained any poisonous substances, but has yet to make its findings public.
Andrew McArdle, a spokesperson for the office, told SpyTalk that they did not see any poison or what the outlet described as “sinister elements” in Graham’s body, seemingly attempting to put to rest rumors about what may have caused the senator’s death.
“Nothing in there raised any red flags subsequent to the preliminary finding,” McArdle said, as quoted by SpyTalk. He added that poison or drugs “would have shown up” in the screening and that the office would have made a statement if they had.
McArdle, however, did not say whether the D.C. Medical Examiner’s Office actively sought signs of poison or drugs.
Headline USA reached out to the Medical Examiner’s Office for further information, but no official was available to speak on the record after business hours.
Graham died at the age of 71 on July 11. He had been in the Senate since 2003.
His death came after he was rushed to the hospital following an aortic dissection, the D.C. Medical Examiner’s Office said in a preliminary report. The condition is a life-threatening medical emergency in which the inner layer of the body’s main artery tears.
Rumors surrounding Graham’s sudden death gained traction on social media, with some users questioning whether Russia may have poisoned the Republican senator. Graham, a strong critic of Russia, had recently returned from Ukraine when he collapsed at his Washington, D.C., condominium.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, was among those who raised questions about Graham’s death and his recent travels to Eastern Europe.
“I saw the initial diagnosis of a dissected aorta — which is terrible, I mean, obviously, that could cause his death — but given where he was and the sorts of things he was advocating for, I think we just ought to resolve all those questions by seeing what the toxicology reports show,” Cornyn said in an interview on CNN.
It is unclear whether the DC Medical Examiner’s Office plans to release its full report publicly.
