Former President George W. Bush will deliver a eulogy at the Washington funeral of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a Bush spokesman confirmed Sunday.
Bush representative Freddy Ford told ABC News that McCain’s former rival was “honored” to have been chosen to address mourners at McCain’s funeral next Saturday at the Washington National Cathedral.
McCain, who played a heavy hand in his own funeral arrangements before he died on Saturday, also requested that former President Barack Obama speak at the solemn occasion, according to multiple reports.
Bush beat McCain to the 2000 Republican presidential nomination, while Obama bested him in the 2008 general election.
Vice President Mike Pence will reportedly attend McCain’s Washington funeral in lieu of President Trump, who is expected not to be invited given his turbulent relationship with the longtime senator.
McCain’s body will lie in state in the Arizona State Capitol Wednesday, his would-be 82nd birthday, ahead of a funeral on Thursday in Phoenix. Former Vice President Joe Biden will eulogize him at that event, Washington Post congressional correspondent Paul Kane reported.
Joe Biden will speak at the McCain memorial service in Phoenix, later this week, VP source says. Then McCain will be flown to DC to lay in state.
Here’s my Biden-McCain story from Philly last October. https://t.co/mIkvXdzXRq— Paul Kane (@pkcapitol) August 26, 2018
McCain will then lie in state again on Friday in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda before a second service in Washington.
He will ultimately be buried on Sunday in Annapolis, Md. His connection with the place harkens back to his stint at the U.S. Naval Academy, where he graduated in 1958.
McCain, a distinguished veteran, died at the age of 81 from glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.
