Political figures from throughout the aisle gathered Thursday in Washington, DC, for former Vice President Dick Cheney’s funeral — sending off a key determine of pre-MAGA Republican politics.
The funeral, which was attended by two former presidents and all dwelling former vice presidents, was a bipartisan who’s who of Washington dignitaries but with the notable absence of two of the nation’s present leaders.
Neither President Donald Trump nor Vice President JD Vance attended the service, and they weren’t invited to the funeral, in response to a supply accustomed to the matter. Vance mentioned Thursday that the former vice president was “a guy who served his country,” and wished his household “all the best in this moment of grieving.” Trump has not publicly expressed his condolences or commented on Cheney’s demise.
Cheney obtained full navy honors on the invitation-only memorial service at Washington’s National Cathedral. Former Presidents Joe Biden and George W. Bush and former first girls Jill Biden and Laura Bush attended in addition to former Vice Presidents Kamala Harris, Mike Pence, Al Gore and Dan Quayle.
Bush eulogized his former vice president as a consummate public servant who could possibly be relied on, and who “lifted the standards” of these round him.
“His abilities were self-evident, without need of calculation or self-promotion,” Bush mentioned. “His talent and restraint exceeded his ego.”
The former president recalled that Cheney was initially tapped to assist him discover a working mate throughout his 2000 presidential run. But after going over the checklist of names, Bush mentioned he got here to appreciate that Cheney himself was one of the best man for the job.
The former president mentioned Cheney rattled off a listing of the explanation why he mustn’t function his working mate when Bush approached him with the concept.
“I told him that, at such a moment, most in his position would have jumped at the chance, but Dick stayed detached and he analyzed it before I made my decision,” Bush mentioned. “He insisted on giving me a complete rundown of all of the reasons I should not choose him.”
Cheney would go on to serve two phrases with Bush, changing into some of the influential and highly effective vice presidents in fashionable historical past.
Also in attendance on the memorial service have been a lot of Supreme Court Justices, together with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Elena Kagan. Numerous previous and current Cabinet members from each Republican and Democratic administrations have been additionally anticipated, in addition to congressional leaders from each side of the aisle.
Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi was current together with Senate Majority Leader John Thune and former chief Mitch McConnell.
Cheney, who served as Bush’s vice president from 2001 to 2009, died on November 3 on the age of 84. Prior to being elected vice president, Cheney served as protection secretary, White House chief of employees and as a congressman representing Wyoming.
He was additional remembered for his progressive stance on a number of social points, together with homosexual marriage, however his position because the architect of the Iraq War noticed him go away workplace deeply unpopular and cemented a polarizing legacy.
Pete Williams, who labored as Pentagon press secretary throughout Cheney’s time as protection secretary, recalled providing to resign from his place after {a magazine} outed him as homosexual in 1991.
“He wouldn’t hear of it, and for several days after that article appeared, he would call me on the direct line to my desk at the Pentagon to ask how I was doing and to tell me to get on with the job,” Williams mentioned.
While official Washington funerals often embrace invitations to the White House, excluding Trump shouldn’t be a shock.
Cheney was a lifetime hardline conservative who endorsed Trump’s 2016 marketing campaign. But he spent the final years of his life talking out towards Trump, significantly after his daughter then-Rep. Liz Cheney drew the president’s ire for her distinguished position in a congressional committee investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol.
Liz Cheney made a reference to her father’s determination to help Harris over Trump final 12 months. “For him,” she mentioned, “a choice between defense of the Constitution and defense of your political party was no choice at all.”
The funeral’s visitor checklist itself was additionally a nod to a time when Washington was not so polarized and politicians from each side of the aisle paid their respects when a dignitary handed away.
In 2022, Cheney described Trump as a coward and mentioned nobody was a “greater threat to our republic.”
Pence, who equally broke with Trump over the president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, mentioned that Cheney gave him two items of recommendation shortly after Pence was elected vice president in 2016. He urged Pence to spend “a lot of time on Capitol Hill” and to obtain the president’s day by day temporary very first thing within the morning, earlier than attending any assembly with the president, as a way to be higher ready for what could be mentioned.
“It was a way that he said, ‘You will be better equipped to be able to advise the president if you know in advance what’s coming and can run that through the filter of the president’s priorities,’” Pence informed NCS’s Jeff Zeleny earlier than the funeral.
The White House provided a muted response after Cheney’s demise with press secretary Karoline Leavitt telling reporters that Trump was “aware” the former vice president had died and noting that flags had been lowered to half-staff.
NCS has reached out to the White House for touch upon Trump not being invited to the funeral, which Axios was first to report.
Honorary pallbearers at Cheney’s funeral included members of his Secret Service element; his former chiefs of employees, David Addington and Scooter Libby; and photographer David Hume Kennerly.
On one of many final pages of the service leaflet was a quote from the author and naturalist John Muir, saying: “The mountains are calling and I must go.”
This story and headline have been up to date with extra data.