Darline Graham

Sanctions on Russia signed into law by Donald Trump last month are now being sidestepped.

President Donald Trump’s decision to ease a law imposing sanctions on Russia was seen by many as a slap in the face to the legacy of the late South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham.

But Lindsey’s sister, Darline Graham—whom Trump backed in the primary to replace her brother—doesn’t seem prepared to chastise her MAGA champion, even as the president dismantles one of her late brother’s signature legislative achievements.

When pressed on Trump’s decision to lift sanctions on Russia, Graham seemed unbothered.

“The president and I share the same goal, which is to end the war, get gas and diesel prices down, and the sanctions bill is one of the tools we can use to do that. It’s up to him whether or not he chooses to use it,” she said on Saturday.

“Personally, I would choose to keep the pressure on Russia to end the war and get the gas prices low, because I don’t trust Putin and I don’t trust Russia,” she added.

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Lindsey Graham, 71, had just returned from a trip to Ukraine when he died unexpectedly in July. He had been working on a bill to impose sanctions on Russia in an attempt to pressure Putin to end the war.

Graham was unmarried, and his sister was appointed to fill his Senate seat until the end of his term in January 2027. Graham had planned to run again in November, and his death caught the South Carolina GOP off-guard.

When Darline Graham, 62, indicated she would enter the primary, Trump threw his weight behind her.

In the Senate, Darline Graham also worked to pass the sanctions bill. It was named for Lindsey, passed the House and Senate over the summer, and Trump signed it into law in September.

Trump, desperate to find ways to lower the cost of living ahead of the midterms, struck a late-night deal with Putin after signing the sanctions bill.

The new deal would allow Russia to sell millions of tons of diesel to the United States, in a bid to lower fuel prices that have reached record highs because of the Iran war and other global factors.

To secure the deal, Trump had to sidestep the sanctions, going so far as to issue an executive order waiving them.

When a reporter asked if she was proud of her role in passing the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, Darline said she was.

“I am proud of it, to help get it across the finish line,” she said. “It meant a lot to Lindsey. But, you know, like Lindsey, he disagreed with the president sometimes; they had that good relationship where they could agree to disagree sometimes,” she said, before returning to her earlier point.

“Like I said, at the end of the day, the president and I both share the same goal, which is to end the war and get gas prices down. And I look forward to talking to him next week. He’s going to be in the state, so we’ll probably sit down and we’ll talk about this,” Graham concluded.

She also confirmed she had not yet spoken to Trump about the decision.

The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.

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