John McCain takes aim at Donald Trump in final statement as spokesman confirms president will not attend funeral

John McCain on the campaign trail in 2008
AFP/Getty Images
Patrick Grafton-Green28 August 2018

John McCain took aim at Donald Trump in a posthumous message as a spokesman for the late senator confirmed the president will not attend his funeral.

In a final message read out by family friend Rick Davis, Mr McCain said the United States is weakened “when we hide behind walls”.

Mr Davis also confirmed the president would not be attending the funeral “as far as we know”, adding “that’s just a fact”.

Rick Davis, spokesperson for Senator John McCain's family, speaks to the media
AP

In his farewell letter, read aloud in Arizona on Monday, Mr McCain said: “We weaken our greatness when we confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries that have sown resentment and hatred and violence in all the corners of the globe.

“We weaken it when we hide behind walls, rather than tear them down.”

Mr Trump has made building a wall between the US and Mexico one of his signature policies.

Mr McCain, who expressed a deep gratitude and love of country, encouraged Americans not to "despair of our present difficulties".

US president Donald Trump in the White House on Monday
REUTERS

"Do not despair of our present difficulties but believe always in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here," he wrote. "Americans never quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history. We make history."

"We weaken our greatness when we confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries that have sown resentment and hatred and violence in all the corners of the globe," he said.

Later on Monday Mr Trump, who has repeatedly refused to talk about Mr McCain since his death, said he respects the senator’s "service to our country" and signed a proclamation to fly the US flag at half-mast until his burial.

The president had previously only tweeted his condolences to Mr McCain's family but made no reference to the senator.

The flag at the top of the White House flew at half-mast over the weekend but was raised on Monday and then lowered again amid criticism.

Mr Trump added in a written statement on Monday that he has asked Vice President Mike Pence to speak at a ceremony honouring Mr McCain at the Capitol on Friday.

The president also said he agreed to the McCain family's request for military transportation of Mr McCain's remains from Arizona to Washington DC.

Mr McCain, who served as a senator for more than three decades, will lie in state at the Arizona State Capitol and at the US Capitol in Washington before his burial on Sunday at the US Naval Academy.

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