Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attempted an impression of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) Monday during a ceremony to rename Joint Base Charleston in the South Carolina Republican's honor — but quickly admitted he'd botched it.

“I’ll never forget his accent. He sat there and he said, ‘gentlemen,’” Hegseth said at the ceremony, shifting into a gruff voice in an impression that he quickly abandoned. “I can’t do a Lindsey Graham's accent. It always devolves into a Trump accent.”

Graham spoke with what’s been labeled a typical “South Carolina drawl,” one that Charleston City Paper previously noted often dropped “R-sounding syllables.” With Hegseth admitting his impression sounded nothing like Graham, independent journalist Aaron Rupar unofficially dubbed the Defense Secretary’s bit as “the worst Lindsey Graham impression of all time.”

Hegseth went on to thank Graham for his help in “breaking recruiting records, for taking back the department from the ‘wokesters,’ and making sure that Iran never has a nuclear weapon,” though his last remark was recently contradicted by President Donald Trump, who reportedly told senior aides – privately – that he was willing to abandon securing a nuclear deal with Iran to end the war.

Graham died suddenly in July 2026 after suffering an aortic dissection related to hardening of his arteries, according to a preliminary medical finding. His office had initially described the incident as a "brief and sudden illness.”

He was one of the most influential voices in Washington on foreign policy, having advised Trump on the Iran war and Russia, and was among the war's chief architects, having pushed for years for direct confrontation between Washington and Tehran.

President Donald Trump appended a new demand to his list of conditions for ending the Iran war.

The 80-year-old president laid out demands Monday for compensation from Iran in response to its Supreme National Security Council secretary, who insisted that the U.S. compensate for war damages and end its sanctions as a condition for reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

"It is an interesting idea because now I am likewise demanding compensation from Iran, for all of the people that they have killed and gravely wounded with their roadside bombs and many conflicts, for which they are famous, as led initially by General Soleimani, including the families of those killed on the USS Cole, and thousands of others killed in combat," Trump posted at 12:31 p.m. "Additionally, compensation should be paid to the families of the hundreds of thousands of innocent protestors that Iran has killed over the last 50 years, not to mention the 52,000 that have been killed in the last five months."

Trump said he would instruct U.S. negotiators to insist on compensation, but he added a new demand a little over an hour later.

"Also, with respect to the Iran negotiations, Iran should be responsible for the damages and death caused to the people of Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Gaza!" Trump posted at 1:37 p.m.

Trump claimed over the weekend that the U.S. was only "semi-negotiating" with Iran and indicated that he would allow economic pressure to build on Tehran as leverage to end the war.

A Trump-appointed federal judge green-lit a legal maneuver that could shield President Donald Trump's financial records from disclosure.

U.S. District Judge Roy K. Altman of the Southern District of Florida issued the ruling in Trump's $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC.

The ruling came one day before a court-ordered deadline that would have forced Trump's trust to hand over tax returns, financial statements, and ownership records for roughly 400 business entities, according to court documents.

According to Forbes, the subpoena covered individual Trump properties, Trump Media & Technology Group, the Trump Organization, crypto company World Liberty Financial, intellectual property, and personal assets including jewelry and art.

Trump's trust filed an emergency motion the day before the deadline, asking Altman to block enforcement of the order, according to court filings.

The deadline Trump's team was racing to beat had been set by U.S. Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett, who issued a written order July 27 compelling the Trust to produce the records because Trump's own lawsuit put his finances directly at issue.

"All of President Trump's brand, properties, and businesses are impugned…and result in both economic and reputational damage, all of that is now at issue in the case," Lett said at the July 27 discovery hearing, according to court transcripts.

Trump's legal team had a counter-move ready, court filings show.

They filed an amended complaint that dropped claims of damage to Trump's brands and businesses, narrowing the suit to personal reputational harm only — which, they argued, made Lett's financial disclosure order moot, the filings show.

"[E]ven if there has been a harm to the brand, we are not pursuing that as part of our damages…It is simply the reputational injury to the President, full stop," Trump's attorney said at the July 27 hearing, according to court transcripts.

The same attorneys represent both Trump and the Trust, the court filings indicate.

The BBC's response was to accuse Trump's team of engineering the move specifically to escape financial scrutiny.

"[The] Plaintiff is transparently seeking amendment to recast his damages allegations in hopes of avoiding his discovery obligations. The Court should not reward this gamesmanship…" the BBC argued in its court filing.

Altman accepted the maneuver, but warned it "won't necessarily obviate the need for certain financial disclosures" — because Trump's $10 billion damages demand remains intact, the ruling shows.

The case is set for trial on February 15, 2027, according to court records.