WH flag lowered in memory of Mccain
WASHINGTON: THE US flag atop the White House became the focus of national attention as the Trump administration calibrated its response to the passing of Republican senator John Mccain, an unrelenting critic of President Donald Trump.
From flying at half staff since Saturday evening, when the Mccain family announced the senator’s passing, it climbed back to the normal full staff position on Monday and then dropped back to half mast after hours of mounting public outrage and derision.
No explanations were offered. “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,” Trump said in a statement.
Mccain’s body will be laid to rest on Sunday, and flags on all government buildings – including the one over the White House and the adjoining office building – will fly at half staff until then.
Flags atop the two buildings were down at half mast after the senator’s passing on Saturday and stayed so through Sunday.
Mccain, a war-hero who suffered five and half years of torture during the Vietnam War, served six terms in the US senate and ran twice for president, is widely respected across the country, and across party lines.
Trump and Mccain did not get along. The president’s first response Mccain’s passing was a dry tweet that addressed the late senator’s family, not the departed leader: “My deepest sympathies and respect go out to the family of Senator John Mccain. Our hearts and prayers are with you!”
White House officials — chief of staff John Kelly and press secretary Sarah Sanders— had planned to put out a more detailed statement, and one that described Mccain as a war-hero.
The president overruled them and sent out the tweet as his response, according to news reports. The two men had differed on more than just policy and politics, the president conceded in his statement. . Trump’s antipathy for Mccain bordered on personal. He once questioned the senator being called a war hero because he got captured.