USA TODAY International Edition
White House flags up, down for McCain
WASHINGTON – Facing a growing public outcry, President Donald Trump ordered U.S. flags brought back down to half-staff on Monday to honor Arizona Sen. John McCain – hours after they had been raised following his death Saturday.
As the nation mourned the loss of the former Vietnam POW, veteran senator and 2008 Republican presidential nominee, the White House came under siege for raising the flag two days after McCain’s death. Trump was already facing blowback for not issuing a statement on McCain, who had a rocky relationship with the president for years.
Sharp criticism from veteran groups, including the American Legion, and others quickly eclipsed the message the White House was trying to convey, including the announcement of a longawaited trade deal between the United States and Mexico. Trump remained mum as reporters shouted McCain questions following a meeting with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Hours after images of the fully raised flag catapulted across network news and social media, Trump offered his first formal statement about his one-time rival and signed a proclamation to bring the flag down. By late afternoon, the flag over the White House had come back down, matching the lowered position at the U.S. Capitol and other government buildings. “Despite our differences on policy and politics, I respect Senator John McCain’s service to our country,” Trump said in a statement.
Veterans groups pummeled Trump earlier in the day. Though federal law indicates flags are flown at half-staff for two days after the death of members of Congress, presidents have often signed proclamations extending the honor until burial. Trump had previously signed such orders, including one for former first lady Barbara Bush in April.
American Legion National Commander Denise Rohan wrote a letter to Trump “strongly” urging him to sign a proclamation for McCain, who died Saturday from brain cancer.
“The American Legion urges the White House to follow long-established protocol following the death of prominent government officials,” Rohan wrote in a letter to Trump. “Senator John McCain was an American hero.”
In addition to ordering the flags lowered until McCain’s burial, Trump asked Vice President Mike Pence to deliver remarks at a ceremony for McCain at the U.S. Capitol on Friday. He named a delegation that included his chief of staff, John Kelly, to attend McCain’s services in Arizona. He also authorized military transportation of McCain’s remains from Arizona to Washington.
Flags are lowered by presidential proclamation, so the president decides who receives the honor. The recent tradition for senators who die in office has been to have flags lowered in their honor from their death until their burial.
During President Barack Obama’s tenure, four sitting senators died: Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., in 2009; Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., in 2010; Daniel Inouye, DHawaii, in 2012; and Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., in 2013.
Obama signed proclamations for Kennedy, Byrd and Inouye, and those proclamations lowered flags to halfstaff until the day they were buried. The Obama White House archives don’t include a proclamation for Lautenberg, though according to news reports at the time, the flag did fly at half-staff at the White House for an unspecified period.
When Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died in 2016 – the first time a justice died in office in more than 50 years – Obama signed a proclamation on the day of his death, ordering flags lowered until his burial.
McCain’s death is the first time a sitting senator has died since Trump’s administration began.
Trump has previously sparked debate over his decisions on when and where to lower the flag. He issued proclamations after massacres in Las Vegas and Parkland, Florida. After the newsroom shooting at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland, he didn’t initially bring the flags to half-staff. He ultimately lowered them five days later.
Amid an outpouring of praise for McCain on Saturday night, Trump made only a brief statement about the senator’s death, offering condolences to his family on Twitter but no words of praise for McCain himself.