Political figures from across the aisle have gathered in Washington, DC, for former Vice President Dick Cheney’s funeral — sending off a key figure of pre-MAGA Republican politics.
The funeral on Thursday local time, which was attended by two former presidents and all living former vice presidents, was a bipartisan who’s who of Washington dignitaries yet with the notable absence of two of the country’s current leaders.
Neither President Donald Trump nor Vice President JD Vance attended the service, and they were not invited to the funeral, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Vance said Thursday that the former vice president was “a guy who served his country,” and wished his family “all the best in this moment of grieving.” Trump has not publicly expressed his condolences or commented on Cheney’s death.
Cheney received full military honours at the invitation-only memorial service at Washington’s National Cathedral.
Former Presidents Joe Biden and George W. Bush and former first ladies Jill Biden and Laura Bush attended, as well as former Vice Presidents Kamala Harris, Mike Pence, Al Gore and Dan Quayle.
Bush eulogised his former vice president as a consummate public servant who could be relied on, and who “lifted the standards” of those around him.
“His abilities were self-evident, without need of calculation or self-promotion,” Bush said. “His talent and restraint exceeded his ego.”
The former president recalled that Cheney was initially tapped to help him find a running mate during his 2000 presidential run. But after going over the list of names, Bush said he came to realise that Cheney himself was the best man for the job.
The former president said Cheney rattled off a list of reasons why he should not serve as his running mate when Bush approached him with the idea.
“I told him that, at such a moment, most in his position would have jumped at the chance, but Dick stayed detached and he analysed it before I made my decision,” Bush said. “He insisted on giving me a complete rundown of all of the reasons I should not choose him.”
Cheney would go on to serve two terms with Bush, becoming one of the most influential and powerful vice presidents in modern history.
Also in attendance at the memorial service were a number of Supreme Court Justices, including Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Elena Kagan.
A large number of past and present Cabinet members from both Republican and Democratic administrations were also expected, as well as congressional leaders from both sides of the aisle.
Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi was present along with Senate Majority Leader John Thune and former leader Mitch McConnell.
Cheney, who served as Bush’s vice president from 2001 to 2009, died on November 3 at the age of 84. Prior to being elected vice president, Cheney served as defence secretary, White House chief of staff and as a congressman representing Wyoming.
He was further remembered for his progressive stance on several social issues, including gay marriage, but his role as the architect of the Iraq War saw him leave office deeply unpopular and cemented a polarising legacy.
Pete Williams, who worked as Pentagon press secretary during Cheney’s time as defence secretary, recalled offering to resign from his position after a magazine outed him as gay in 1991.
“He wouldn’t hear of it, and for several days after that article appeared, he would call me on the direct line to my desk at the Pentagon to ask how I was doing and to tell me to get on with the job,” Williams said.
While official Washington funerals usually include invites to the White House, excluding Trump should not be a surprise.
Cheney was a lifetime hardline conservative who endorsed Trump’s 2016 campaign. But he spent the last years of his life speaking out against Trump, particularly after his daughter then-Rep. Liz Cheney drew the president’s ire for her prominent role in a congressional committee investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol.
Liz Cheney made a reference to her father’s decision to support Harris over Trump last year. “For him,” she said, “a choice between defence of the Constitution and defence of your political party was no choice at all.”
The funeral’s guest list itself was also a nod to a time when Washington was not so polarised and politicians from both sides of the aisle paid their respects when a dignitary passed away.
In 2022, Cheney described Trump as a coward and said no one was a “greater threat to our republic.”
Pence, who similarly broke with Trump over the president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, said that Cheney gave him two pieces of advice shortly after Pence was elected vice president in 2016. He urged Pence to spend “a lot of time on Capitol Hill” and to receive the president’s daily brief first thing in the morning, before attending any meeting with the president, in order to be better prepared for what would be discussed.
“It was a way that he said, ‘You will be better equipped to be able to advise the president if you know in advance what’s coming and can run that through the filter of the president’s priorities,'” Pence told CNN’s Jeff Zeleny before the funeral.
The White House offered a muted reaction after Cheney’s death with press secretary Karoline Leavitt telling reporters that Trump was “aware” the former vice president had died and noting that flags had been lowered to half-staff.
CNN has reached out to the White House for comment on Trump not being invited to the funeral, which Axios was first to report.
Honorary pallbearers at Cheney’s funeral included members of his Secret Service detail; his former chiefs of staff, David Addington and Scooter Libby; and photographer David Hume Kennerly.
On one of the last pages of the service leaflet was a quote from the writer and naturalist John Muir, saying: “The mountains are calling and I must go.”
