President Trump reversed course and ordered that the U.S. flag be flown at half-staff for the rest of the week to mark the passing of Republican Sen. John McCain, after drawing fire from lawmakers and veterans groups who said he hadn’t been appropriately honored.
“Despite our differences on policy and politics, I respect Senator John McCain’s service to our country and, in his honor, have signed a proclamation to fly the flag of the United States at half-staff until the day of his interment,” Mr. Trump said in a statement Monday.
The White House initially lowered its flag to half-staff on Saturday, but returned it to full-staff by Monday morning. It was lowered to half-staff again Monday afternoon, shortly before Mr. Trump released his statement.
Mr. Trump said he has asked Vice President Mike Pence to speak at the ceremony honoring Mr. McCain at the Capitol on Friday. There will be a memorial service for Mr. McCain at Washington National Cathedral on Saturday.
Mr. Trump said he also asked Chief of Staff John Kelly, Secretary of Defense James Mattis, and national security adviser John Bolton to represent the administration at services for Mr. McCain.
On Capitol Hill, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the flags will be at half-staff at the Capitol building until sundown on Sunday, the day of Mr. McCain’s interment, according to the standard operating procedure.
The U.S. flag code calls for flags to be flown at half-staff on the day of death and the following day for a member of Congress, a protocol the White House has followed. But for many other prominent Americans, the flag has been lowered for several days and raised again only once the person is buried.
The White House’s decision to raise the flags prompted criticism from several members of Mr. Trump’s own party who felt the move undercut Mr. McCain’s service to the nation.
“Shameful,” tweeted Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican.
Ahead of the White House re-lowering the flag, major veterans-advocacy groups said they were taken aback by the move and asked the White House to reconsider.
Veterans of Foreign Wars, a major veterans group, wrote the White House on Monday to ask that the flag be lowered until Mr. McCain is interred, spokesman Joe Davis said.
American Legion, one of the country’s largest veterans groups, made the same request.
“I strongly urge you to make an appropriate presidential proclamation noting Sen. McCain’s death and legacy of service to our nation, and that our nation’s flag be half-staffed through his interment,” wrote Denise Rohan, national commander of the American Legion, to Mr. Trump.
In 2009, the White House ordered that its flags be flown at half-staff for Sen. Ted Kennedy until the day he was buried. And the White House flags were flown at half-staff until former first lady Barbara Bush’s burial this past April.
On Saturday, shortly after Mr. McCain’s passing was announced, Mr. Trump offered his condolences to the family in a short tweet that notably lacked any comments about Mr. McCain, his military service to the nation, his time spent as a prisoner of war in northern Vietnam, or his six terms in the U.S. Senate.
In 2015, Mr. Trump famously said that Mr. McCain wasn’t a war hero because his plane had been shot down and he was captured in Vietnam.
“I like people who weren’t captured,” Mr. Trump said.
The following year Mr. Trump gave a perfunctory endorsement of Mr. McCain in the Arizona Senate race after edging close to backing a Republican primary challenger, Kelli Ward, a person familiar with the matter said.
For his part, Mr. McCain yanked his endorsement of Mr. Trump in October 2016 after a videotape appeared showing the former reality-TV star talking of sexually aggressive behavior toward women.