President Trump on Monday issued a long-awaited statement on the passing of Senator John McCain, ordering American flags to be flown at half-mast until his burial.
“Despite our differences on policy and politics, I respect Senator John McCain’s service to our country and, in his honor, have signed a proclamation to fly the flag of the United States at half-staff until the day of his interment,” the statement from the White House read.
The Arizona senator died on Saturday afternoon at his Arizona home, after a battle with brain cancer. The body of the decorated war hero, who endured five years of imprisonment and torture as a POW in Vietnam before going on to serve 36 years in Congress, will lie in state in both the U.S. and Arizona capitol buildings.
The president added that he has asked Vice President Mike Pence to offer an address at Friday’s ceremony at the U.S. Capitol honoring McCain.
“At the request of the McCain family, I have also authorized military transportation of Senator McCain’s remains from Arizona to Washington, D.C., military pallbearers and band support, and a horse and caisson transport during the service at the United States Naval Academy,” Trump’s statement said.
The Trump administration drew backlash earlier on Monday when U.S. flags at the White House were seen back at full-mast, despite the tradition of leaving them at half-mast until a leader of McCain’s prominence is buried.
McCain clashed frequently with Trump during the 2016 campaign season, when Trump criticized the senator’s war record, calling him “not a war hero” and saying “I like people who weren’t captured,” a reference to McCain’s time as a POW. In turn, McCain irked Trump by helping to sink the GOP effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act in an eleventh-hour vote.
In a farewell statement to the nation penned before his death, McCain took a thinly veiled parting shot at the president.
“We weaken our greatness when we confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries that have sown resentment and hatred and violence in all the corners of the globe,” the late twice-presidential candidate wrote. “We weaken it when we hide behind walls, rather than tear them down, when we doubt the power of our ideals, rather than trust them to be the great force for change they have always been.”
General John Kelly, Secretary of Defense James Mattis, and national-security adviser John Bolton will represent the Trump administration at McCain’s service in Washington.