Former Vice President Dick Cheney’s funeral will take place on Thursday in Washington, DC. It will bring together former presidents and politicians from both parties to honor a key figure in the Republican Party before the MAGA movement. Notably, neither former President Donald Trump nor current Vice President JD Vance received invitations to the funeral, according to a source familiar with the situation.
Cheney will receive full military honors at the memorial service, which is expected to feature a notable gathering of Washington dignitaries from both sides of the aisle. More than 1,000 guests are anticipated at the invitation-only ceremony, scheduled for Thursday morning at the National Cathedral in Washington. This includes four living former vice presidents and two former presidents.
Former Presidents George W. Bush and Joe Biden are attending to pay their respects, along with former Vice Presidents Kamala Harris, Mike Pence, Al Gore, and Dan Quayle. Many Supreme Court Justices will be there, including Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Elena Kagan. A large number of current and former Cabinet members from both Republican and Democratic administrations will also attend, along with congressional leaders from both parties.
Speaker Pelosi is Attending the Funeral
Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi is attending, as are Senate Majority Leader John Thune and former leader Mitch McConnell. The funeral guest list is a nod to a time when Washington was less polarized, with politicians from both parties paying their respects when a dignitary passed away. Cheney’s funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. ET. Speakers will include former President George W. Bush, Cheney’s daughter Liz Cheney, and some of his grandchildren.
Cheney, who served as Bush’s vice president from 2001 to 2009, died on November 3 at the age of 84. Before his vice presidency, he held positions as defense secretary, White House chief of staff, and congressman representing Wyoming. He is regarded as one of the most powerful and influential vice presidents in U.S. history, but his role as the architect of the Iraq War left him deeply unpopular as he left office, contributing to a polarizing legacy.
While official funerals in Washington typically include invitations to the White House, the exclusion of Trump from this one is not surprising. Cheney was a lifelong conservative who initially supported Trump’s 2016 campaign. However, he later criticized him publicly. This criticism grew stronger after his daughter, Liz Cheney, became a public opponent of Trump because of her role in investigating the January 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection.
Chenny’s Remarks About President Trump
In 2022, Cheney called Trump a coward and said he posed the greatest threat to the country. So far, Trump has not offered condolences or mentioned Cheney’s death. Before the funeral, Vance remembered Cheney as someone who served his country and wished his family well during this difficult time.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, who also broke ranks with Trump over efforts to overturn the 2020 election, recalled that Cheney gave him two important pieces of advice shortly after Pence was elected vice president in 2016. Cheney urged Pence to spend “a lot of time on Capitol Hill” and to review the president’s daily briefing each morning before attending any meetings with the president. According to Pence, Cheney believed this would equip him to better advise the president by knowing in advance what issues were on the agenda and filtering them through the president’s priorities.
The White House issued a muted reaction following Cheney’s death, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt stating that Trump was aware of Cheney’s passing and noting that flags had been lowered to half-staff.
Honorary pallbearers at Cheney’s funeral will include members of his Secret Service detail, his former chiefs of staff David Addington and Scooter Libby, and photographer David Hume Kennerly. Included on one of the last pages of the service leaflet is a quote from the writer and naturalist John Muir: “The mountains are calling, and I must go.”
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