Dick Cheney’s funeral held in Washington, with Trump off guest list
Former presidents Bush and Biden, and all living former vice-presidents attended the Washington National Cathedral service
Dick Cheney, celebrated as a master Republican strategist but defined by the darkest chapters of America’s “War on Terror”, was honoured on Thursday in a funeral attended by Washington’s elite that pointedly left out President Donald Trump.
Cheney’s career reads like a catalogue of American statecraft, even as his long shadow over foreign policy - as defence secretary during the Gulf War and the 46th vice-president under George W. Bush - still divides the country.
Bush and fellow former president Joe Biden were among more than 1,000 guests at Washington National Cathedral. But Trump, who hasn’t commented on Cheney’s death, and Vice-President J.D. Vance were not invited.
The Neo-Gothic Episcopal church, veiled in muted autumn gloom and fortified by tight security, set a tone of quiet gravity as a Who’s Who of luminaries gathered beneath its vaulted stone arches.
“Colleagues from every chapter of his career will tell you that he lifted the standards of those around him, just by being who he was: so focused and so capable,” Bush told the congregation.