‘A nation is in tears’: tributes to John McCain

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.

The New York Times reports that former President Obama has also been invited to deliver a eulogy.

This is a memorial at the site in Hanoi where McCain’s plane was shot down in 1967, visited by US citizens and Vietnamese people alike.

Trump, who had mocked McCain’s war record, said he sent his “deepest sympathies and respect”. “There’s been few leaders that have ever sacrificed as much as John McCain”.

McCain, who was involved in politics for 35 years and made two presidential runs, died at the age of 81 on Saturday.

“John McCain and I disagreed on many things”, Warren said, “and sometimes quite forcefully”.

Wednesday, Aug. 29: McCain’s body will lie in state at the Arizona State Capitol.

Trump, who unfortunately denigrated McCain’s accomplishments and character while he was alive, joined those who tweeted condolences upon his death.

But Trump told aides he wanted to post a brief tweet instead, and the statement praising McCain’s life was not released.

Trump made no comment when McCain chose to end treatment for brain cancer on Friday, and also failed to mention McCain earlier this month when he signed a defence-spending bill named for him.

Mr McCain was one of just three Republican senators to vote against – and thus defeat – a Trump-backed effort to repeal former president Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law, AFP reported.

Another option Arizona Republicans raised includes Cindy McCain, John McCain’s wife, who is also chairwoman of her family’s beer distribution business and an advocate against human trafficking who has filled in for her husband at public events at times after his diagnosis.

“At that time I liked him personally for his toughness and strong stance”, he said. “Why they erected it and the significance it has to them, I have never quite figured out”, he laughed.

Meanwhile, scores of people in Hanoi paid their respects to Mr McCain at the U.S. embassy and at a monument by Truc Bach Lake, where he landed after parachuting from his damaged plane. For that, he said he “was very fond of [McCain]”.

McCain allies said they did not expect an outpouring of praise from Trump after their contentious past.

John McCain drew criticism from the left for giving a platform to Palin’s right-wing views, contributing to the rise of the Tea Party movement. “It seems to me it would be appropriate for the Palestinian side to go into these negotiations with no preconditions, and that is the best way, I think, to achieve a lasting settlement”.