The late Sen. John McCain will lie in state at the Arizona Capitol on Wednesday, which is his birthday, before his remains travel to Washington D.C. on Thursday for his burial ceremony.
A private ceremony will take place inside the state Capitol Rotunda on Wednesday at 10 am PT. The public is then invited to pay their respects to McCain from 2 pm – 8 pm PT.
On Thursday, there will be a memorial service celebrating his life and legacy at North Phoenix Baptist Church in Arizona at 10 am PT. He will be flown to Joint Base Andrews, Maryland in the evening.
McCain will lie in state at the U.S. Capitol in Rotunda. The formal ceremony will take place at 11 am ET to honor his life and service to the nation. Public is invited then to pay their respects to McCain as he lies in state for remainder of the day.
McCain’s remains will arrive in Washington D.C. at Joint Base Andrews on Thursday evening. He will be welcomed to the U.S. Capitol building with a ceremony at 11 am on Friday. A public viewing of his casket will follow.
His public funeral service will take place on Saturday at Washington National Cathedral.
On Sunday there will be a private memorial service for McCain at the U.S. Naval Academy Chapel in Annapolis, Maryland, at 2 pm ET. He will be buried at the U.S. Naval Academy Cemetery next to his Naval Academy classmate and lifelong friend Admiral Chuck Larson.
Dozens line Interstate 17 as they wait for the procession with the hearse carrying the late Arizona Sen. John McCain
The late Sen. John McCain was lie in state at the Arizona Capital Wednesday, which is his birthday
Gov. Doug Ducey will appoint McCain’s replacement in the Senate
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey announced McCain’s funeral journey will begin Wednesday in his home state of Arizona, at the Capitol in Phoenix, on what would have been his 82nd birthday.
In a tweet, Ducey, a Republican, described the event as a ‘rare and distinct occurrence for a truly special man.’
He adds: ‘John McCain is Arizona, and we will honor his life every way we can.’
The six-term Arizona senator and decorated Vietnam War veteran died Saturday of brain cancer at his ranch near Sedona, Arizona, at age 81.
Events are expected to begin in his home state and move to Washington before his burial at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
Congressional leaders in Washington D.C. say McCain will lie in state in the U.S. Capitol rotunda.
Republican and Democratic leaders did not give a date for the event, saying Sunday that more details would be released later.
Former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama are expected to speak at McCain’s service in Washington.
While Ducey will appoint a replacement for McCain, who held his Senate seat for more than 30 years, there is another Senate race taking place in Arizona this year – the one to replace retiring Sen. Jeff Flake.
McCain’s death has now become an issue in that contest, when voters go to the polls on Tuesday to decide the party’s nominees for the general election.
A candidate for the GOP nomination has suggested that a statement that McCain was ending medical treatment was designed to hurt her campaign.
Kelli Ward made the comment on Facebook hours before McCain died Saturday. Ward had unsuccessfully challenged McCain in the 2016 GOP primary and is now running for a seat being vacated by Flake.
A post from a Ward campaign aide questions whether the Friday announcement was timed to distract from a bus tour that Ward had launched that day.
Ward commented: ‘I think they wanted to have a particular narrative that is negative to me.’
After her comment was publicized, Ward deleted it and wrote ‘the media loves a narrative’ and said she ‘feels compassion’ for McCain’s family.
Ducey does not plan to announce whom he will appoint to replace McCain until after the senator’s burial.
Flags fly at half-staff at the Arizona Capitol in memory of the late Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain
Kelli Ward, a candidate for the GOP Senate nomination, deleted a Facebook comment that was critical of John McCain
Arizona voters go the polls on Tuesday to pick the party nominees to replace retiring Sen. Jeff Flake
The Arizona Republican’s death on Saturday of brain cancer leaves a vacancy in the Senate for the state. State law requires the governor to name an appointee of the same political party who will serve until the next general election in 2020.
Ducey’s spokesman Daniel Ruiz II said in a statement Sunday that the governor will not be making any announcements until after McCain is buried.
The statement says, ‘Now is a time for remembering and honoring a consequential life.’
Tributes have poured in for the late senator.
Retired Gen. David Petraeus is honoring him as a distinguished veteran who always ‘had the backs’ of military service members.
Petraeus, a former CIA director who previously oversaw coalition forces in Iraq, tells ABC’s ‘This Week’ that McCain was committed to ensuring that those who fought the wars after Sept. 11 ‘had what was needed to prevail.’
He says McCain was also very forthright in standing up against torture, working to limit the enhanced interrogation of detainees.
Petraeus notes that an extraordinary moment of McCain’s military career was when he was a prisoner of war in Vietnam and was offered freedom by his captors, but ‘he would not break faith with his fellow prisoners.’
Sen. Susan Collins remembers McCain’s momentous vote against their party’s effort to repeal the Obama-era health law.
The Maine Republican tells CNN’s ‘State of the Union’ that she and GOP colleague Lisa Murkowski of Alaska – both repeal opponents – spoke to McCain before the July 2017 vote because they knew he was struggling with the decision.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel paid tribute to McCain as ‘one of the great political personalities of our time’
French President Emmanuel Macron says the senator’s voice will be missed
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his country salutes McCain as a ‘great American patriot and a great supporter of Israel’
Collins says he pointed to them and said, ‘You two are right!’
Collins says Vice President Mike Pence was waiting to speak to McCain next, but she knew McCain’s ‘no’ decision would hold.
She says, ‘Once John McCain made up his mind about something, there was no shaking him.’
McCain later dramatically held up his hand and flicked his thumb down, killing the measure.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel paid tribute to McCain as ‘one of the great political personalities of our time.’
Merkel offered her condolences in a statement tweeted Sunday by her spokesman, Steffen Seibert.
She says that McCain was ‘a tireless fighter for a strong trans-Atlantic alliance; his significance went well beyond his own country.’
People leave flowers and candles outside the A.L. Moore-Grimshaw Mortuary in Phoenix, Arizona where the body of the late Senator John McCain is currently being held
With a police escort, a procession follows the hearse carrying the late Arizona Sen. John McCain along Interstate 17 on the way to Phoenix
Merkel says, ‘John McCain was led by the firm conviction that the sense of all political work lies in service to freedom, democracy and the rule of law. His death is a loss to all those who share this conviction.’
And people in Vietnam are remembering McCain as having played an important role in normalizing relations between their country and the United States.
McCain was captured in 1967 when he parachuted into Hanoi’s Truc Bach Lake after his Navy aircraft was shot down during a bombing mission. He spent over five years in the prison known as the ‘Hanoi Hilton.’
On Sunday, a memorial was held at the lake, with residents leaving flowers to remember McCain.
One resident, Nguyen Van Trung, says McCain ‘fought for peace in many countries, including Vietnam.’
Another resident, Hoang Thi Trang, says that to the Vietnamese people, McCain ‘was not only a companion in resolving postwar issues, but also a friend.’
French President Emmanuel Macron says the senator’s voice will be missed.
Macron has tweeted in English that McCain ‘was a true American hero. He devoted his entire life to his country.’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his country salutes McCain as a ‘great American patriot and a great supporter of Israel.’
Netanyahu says Sunday he is deeply saddened by McCain’s passing at the age of 81 and will always treasure his friendship.
McCain was a frequent visitor to Israel who backed it in the Senate and strongly opposed the nuclear ambitions and militancy of its archrival Iran.
Netanyahu says McCain’s ‘support for Israel never wavered. It sprang from his belief in democracy and freedom.’
Other tributes poured in from across the Israeli political spectrum. Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman called McCain one of Israel’s greatest friends. Yair Lapid, head of the opposition Yesh Atid Party, lauded McCain as ‘a soldier with integrity in a world of politicians.’