President Trump will skip the funeral service for former first lady Barbara Bush to avoid any disruptions out of respect for the Bush family, the White House said Thursday.
According to the Associated Press, the White House said the president will likely spend the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate and skip the funeral “to avoid disruptions due to added security, and out of respect for the Bush Family and friends attending the service.”
First lady Melania Trump will represent the first family by attending Saturday’s memorial service in Houston.
Trump has often feuded with members of the Bush family, a political dynasty that once dominated the Republican party and the White House. He pointed to the Bush family as an example of the political establishment which he was seeking to overthrow, and during the campaign he railed against rival Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida, as being “low energy.”
Members of the Bush family have vocalized their concerns over Trump’s vision for the GOP and country, including Barbara Bush who said that he was a “showman” and didn’t “know how women could vote” for him.
In the wake of the matriarch’s death, the president ordered flags to be flown at half-staff over the White House and Mar-a-Lago, and he paid tribute to her legacy during a press conference where he praised her as a “titan in American life.”
