By SEUNG MIN KIM
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former president Joe Biden will attend Thursday’s memorial service for former vice chairman Dick Cheney on the Washington Nationwide Cathedral, which can function remarks from one other former president, George W. Bush.
A spokeswoman for Biden confirmed his plans to attend. The Democratic president mentioned in an announcement after Cheney’s dying that the previous vice chairman was “guided by a strong set of conservative values” and that “he believed, as I do, that family is the beginning, middle, and end.”
The present U.S. president, Donald Trump, and his administration mentioned little about Cheney after his Nov. 3 dying following problems from pneumonia and cardiac and vascular illness. It’s unknown whether or not Trump, who has had frosty relations with the Cheney household, will attend the funeral, which is by invitation solely.
Trump by no means made an announcement on Cheney’s passing and didn’t subject a presidential proclamation that usually accompanies the dying of notable figures. The White Home did decrease its flags to half-staff after his dying, which press secretary Karoline Leavitt mentioned it did “in accordance with statutory law.”
That was additionally the rationale conveyed by the White Home to congressional leaders earlier this month, when the Capitol was informed that it ought to go by the statute that governs when a flag needs to be lowered, together with for deaths of principal authorities figures, in line with three individuals conversant in the conversations.
Federal legislation says when a former vice chairman dies, then the U.S. flag will fly at half-staff from the day of dying till the day of interment.
The American flag is seen at half-staff, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, on the White Home in Washington. (AP Photograph/Jacquelyn Martin)
The implication was that congressional leaders shouldn’t watch for a proper proclamation as a result of one wouldn’t be coming. The individuals spoke on situation of anonymity to explain personal conversations.
The White Home on Wednesday didn’t reply to a request for touch upon why a proclamation was by no means issued for Cheney, or whether or not Trump was invited to the funeral. Throughout his reelection marketing campaign final 12 months, Trump repeatedly criticized Cheney and his daughter, former Rep. Liz Cheney, who had grow to be certainly one of Trump’s fiercest critics within the Republican Occasion after his makes an attempt to stay in workplace after shedding the 2020 election. The previous vice chairman, a longtime Republican stalwart, mentioned he would vote for Trump’s opponent, Democrat Kamala Harris, saying final 12 months that Trump can “never be trusted with power again.”
Along with serving as Bush’s vice chairman, Cheney was additionally the protection secretary below President George H.W. Bush and chief of employees for President Gerald Ford. He additionally served as Wyoming’s lone consultant to the Home, a seat that was occupied by his daughter, Liz, a long time later.
