Joe Biden to attend Dick Cheney’s funeral, as Donald Trump continues to remain silent on his death

WASHINGTON AP Former president Joe Biden will attend Thursday s memorial operation for former vice president Dick Cheney at the Washington National Cathedral which will feature remarks from another former president George W Bush A spokeswoman for Biden authenticated his plans to attend The Democratic president commented in a comment after Cheney s death that the former vice president was guided by a strong set of conservative values and that he thought as I do that family is the beginning middle and end The current U S president Donald Trump and his administration declared little about Cheney after his Nov death following complications from pneumonia and cardiac and vascular infection It s unknown whether Trump who has had frosty relations with the Cheney family will attend the funeral which is by invitation only Trump never made a report on Cheney s passing and did not issue a presidential proclamation that often accompanies the death of notable figures The White House did lower its flags to half-staff after his death which press secretary Karoline Leavitt commented it did in accordance with statutory law That was also the rationale conveyed by the White House to congressional leaders earlier this month when the Capitol was informed that it should go by the statute that governs when a flag should be lowered including for deaths of principal authorities figures according to three people familiar with the conversations Federal law says when a former vice president dies then the U S flag will fly at half-staff from the day of death until the day of interment The implication was that congressional leaders should not wait for a formal proclamation because one would not be coming The people spoke on condition of anonymity to describe private conversations The White House on Wednesday did not respond to a request for comment on why a proclamation was never issued for Cheney or whether Trump was invited to the funeral During his reelection campaign last year Trump regularly criticized Cheney and his daughter former Rep Liz Cheney who had become one of Trump s fiercest critics in the Republican Party after his attempts to remain in office after losing the referendum The former vice president a longtime Republican stalwart mentioned he would vote for Trump s opponent Democrat Kamala Harris saying last year that Trump can never be trusted with power again In addition to serving as Bush s vice president Cheney was also the defense secretary under President George H W Bush and chief of staff for President Gerald Ford He also served as Wyoming s lone representative to the House a seat that was occupied by his daughter Liz decades later Others delivering tributes at Thursday s funeral are Cheney s longtime cardiologist Jonathan Reiner former NBC News correspondent Pete Williams who was Cheney s spokesman at the Pentagon Liz Cheney and the former vice president s grandchildren