While condolences for former Vice President Dick Cheney have poured in from each side of the aisle, President Donald Trump has not addressed his death on Tuesday nor shared something about it amongst his many posts on social media.
Neither has Vice President JD Vance. The White House supplied a muted response, together with a perfunctory response from press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who instructed reporters at Tuesday’s press briefing that Trump was “aware” of Cheney’s death and famous that flags have been lowered to half-staff.
The response was in line with Trump’s long-standing disdain for the former vice president, which he voiced lengthy earlier than he ever campaigned and received on dismantling the GOP institution at the crux of Cheney’s ascent to energy.
“I didn’t like Cheney when he was a vice president. I don’t like him now,” Trump stated in a 2011 video taped from his Trump Tower desk.
Cheney, a hardline conservative, endorsed Trump’s 2016 run for president, however crossed the aisle in 2024 to endorse Kamala Harris.
In photos: Vice President Dick Cheney
The Trump-Cheney relationship deteriorated considerably after the January 6, 2021, assault on the US Capitol. The former vice president sharply criticized Trump as a “coward” and a menace to the republic in an advert supporting his daughter, then-Rep. Liz Cheney, in her 2022 reelection marketing campaign, which she misplaced in the major to a Trump-backed challenger. Liz Cheney served as vice chair of the House choose committee investigating the assault.
In endorsing Harris, Dick Cheney stated in a press release that residents “have a duty to put country above partisanship.”
Leavitt on Tuesday didn’t reply to inquiries as as to whether Trump deliberate to talk at Cheney’s funeral or if he had spoken with members of the Cheney household.
“I know the president is aware of the former vice president’s passing, and as you saw, flags have been lowered to half-staff in accordance with statutory law,” she stated.
White House flags have been lowered hours after Cheney’s death was introduced on Tuesday morning, however the second was not accompanied by a presidential proclamation.
Federal legal guidelines govern flying American flags at half-staff. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, flags in any respect federal buildings, grounds and naval vessels should fly at half-staff for 30 days after the death of a president or former president, and 10 days for a vice president, Supreme Court chief justice or speaker of the House. For former vice presidents, flags should fly at half-staff between the day of death and interment.
When Trump took workplace on January 20, the White House flag was flying at half-staff in honor of former President Jimmy Carter, who died on December 29, 2024. Trump, who as soon as referred to as the Democrat a “nice man” however “terrible president,” signed a presidential proclamation inside hours of his swearing-in, requiring the flag to be raised to full-staff on Inauguration Day.
But flying the flag at half-staff for different officers is at the president’s discretion. Trump has prolonged the honor 3 times throughout his second time period: to assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk in September, to the victims of a college taking pictures at a Minneapolis church in August, and Pope Francis in April.
Trump mirrored on his relationship with Cheney briefly throughout a city corridor with Tucker Carlson days earlier than the 2024 election – weeks after Cheney endorsed Harris.
“I was surprised a little bit with Dick Cheney. I didn’t know him at all,” Trump stated, including that they’d spoken after Trump pardoned ex-Cheney aide Scooter Libby in 2018.
He added: “I was a little surprised because I actually thought that Dick Cheney would go with me over his daughter and he didn’t. And you know what? I understand it. It’s your daughter and you go.”
NCS’s Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.