Bush, Obama to speak at Mccain’s funeral

Two former presidents are expected to speak at Sen. John McCain’s service and he will lie in state in both the nation’s capital and Arizona as part of a cross-country funeral procession ending with his burial at the U.S. Naval Academy, according to plans taking shape Sunday.

McCain had long feuded with President Donald Trump, and two White House officials said McCain’s family had asked, before the senator’s death, that Trump not attend the funeral services. Vice President Mike Pence is likely to attend, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe private discussions.

Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, who blocked McCain’s own White House ambitions, are among those expected to speak at McCain’s funeral.

“These were bitter contests, both of them,” said Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and “to ask them to speak at your funeral, and for them to be honored at the opportunity, that tells you all you need to know.”

Services will be held in Washington and Arizona

McCain will be memorialized at ceremonies Arizona and Washington, D.C. this week. The late senator will first lie in state at the Arizona State Capitol, where a private ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. PST on Wednesday, which would have been McCain’s 82nd birthday. Members of the public will be invited to pay their respects at the State Capitol from 1 p.m. through 8 p.m. PST on Wednesday. On Thursday, a memorial service will be held at the National Phoenix Baptist Church at 10 a.m. PST.

In Washington, D.C., McCain will lie in state at the United States Capitol on Friday, where a ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. EST and members of the public will be allowed to pay their respects from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m EST. McCain will become the 13th senator to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda, an honor reserved for the nation’s “most eminent citizens,”.

A memorial service in Washington, D.C. will be held at the Washington National Cathedral on Saturday, Sept. 1 at 10 a.m. EST.

McCain will be laid to rest in a private ceremony at the U.S. Naval Academy Cemetery in Annapolis, Md., according to McCain’s office. His grave site will overlook the Severn River, and will be next to that of his old friend, Adm. Chuck Larson.