President Trump will not be paying his respects to the late Rep. John Lewis in person.
The president told reporters on Monday that he will not be visiting the U.S. Capitol’s Rotunda where Lewis, who died last week at the age of 80, is laying in state.
“I won’t be going, no,” the president said.
Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen, are scheduled to pay their respects on Monday evening after the vice president gets back from a trip to Florida regarding coronavirus vaccines.
Q: “Do you plan on paying your respects to Congressman Lewis either today or tomorrow at the Capitol?”
President Trump: “No. I won’t be going. No.” pic.twitter.com/dRYg3uCxpi
— CSPAN (@cspan) July 27, 2020
Lewis’s casket arrived at the Capitol just as Trump was leaving Washington, D.C., for North Carolina.
The casket will be displayed outside of the Capitol building later on Monday in order to allow observers to appropriately distance themselves from others amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Lewis was a confidant of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and had been among the last surviving leaders of the civil rights movement. He passed away on Friday after being diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer late last year. He had represented Georgia’s 5th Congressional District since 1987.
Trump did issue a proclamation on Saturday calling for flags across the country to be flown at half-staff to honor Lewis. “Saddened to hear the news of civil rights hero John Lewis passing. Melania and I send our prayers to he and his family,” the president said in a tweet.
