The news from the three former commanders-in-chief, each with a role in the service, comes the same day that President Donald Trump avoided a final opportunity to pay tribute in person to the civil rights icon at Andrews Joint Base. .
Trump left the airbase for Texas around 9:55 a.m. ET, approximately 30 minutes late after speaking to reporters at the White House. A procession with Lewis and his family arrived in Andrews a few minutes later, greeted by an honor guard.
The plane carrying Lewis’s coffin, along with separate planes for his family, departed after a brief ceremony. The two groups did not overlap on Andrews’ track.
After days of remembrance and remembrance for the late civil rights leader, Trump did not mention it when he left Washington.
Almost all American political leaders, including Vice President Mike Pence, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, paid tribute to him. Lewis, as he was honored this week. .
However, Trump made it clear from the start that he would not join the memories.
Trump offered brief words of condolence on Twitter after Lewis’s death earlier this month and ordered the flags be lowered for one day. “Sad to hear the news of the passing of civil rights hero John Lewis. Melania and I send our prayers to him and his family,” Trump wrote at the time.
There are no plans for Trump to attend Lewis’s funeral on Thursday.
Lewis and Trump’s predecessor, however, They admired each other, and Lewis described Obama’s inauguration in 2009 as an “out-of-body” experience.
“When we were organizing voter registration campaigns, going to Freedom Rides, sitting, coming here to Washington the first time, being arrested, going to jail, beaten, I never thought, I never dreamed, the possibility that an African American would one day be elected President of the United States, “he said at the time.
In 2011, after more than 50 years on the front lines of the civil rights movement, Lewis received the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, placed around his neck by the first black president of the United States. .
Obama said in a statement after Lewis’s death that the civil rights icon “will continue, even in his passing, to serve as a beacon” on America’s journey toward a more perfect union.
“He loved this country so much that he risked his life and blood to fulfill his promise. And over the decades, he not only gave himself up for the cause of freedom and justice, but inspired the generations that followed. to try to live up to their example, “Obama said.
This story has been updated with additional developments on Wednesday.
CNN’s Suzanne Malveaux, Lauren Fox, Faith Karimi and Brandon Griggs contributed to this report.
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