During a hit on Morning Joe, NBC News Pentagon Reporter Hans Nichols reported a bit of news that is sure to raise eyebrows as the day progresses. Turns out that the flag that flies over the White House is no longer flying at half-staff, which Nichols reported to host Joe Scarborough as “the White House it doesn’t appear they’re in mourning any longer.”
The flag at the White House was lowered yesterday in memory of Senator John McCain, and still remains at half-staff at the U.S. Capitol (and likely thousands of locations around the country.) But for reasons that aren’t yet clear, the White House flag is no longer half-staff.
Nichols then gave the White House benefit of the doubt, saying “dawn has just broken, sometimes they bring it down at night, but not if lights on it,” before contrasting to Congress at Capitol Hill, it is still at half-staffed.” Nichols has since tweeted the following for comparison.
For context, Obama ordered the flag lowered for five days when Sen. Kennedy died. That said, Obama lowered the flag more than his predecessors. https://t.co/7FKNCnBJBx https://t.co/tjPVJe6gZF
— HansNichols (@HansNichols) August 27, 2018
CBS News White House Correspondent also reported as much Mark Knoller via Twitter:
Flag back at full staff atop WH. Pres Trump did not issue proclamation on the death of @SenJohnMcCain, which usually calls for flags to remain at half-staff through the day of interment, which is Sunday at the @NavalAcademy. pic.twitter.com/NGasNPT0VB
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) August 27, 2018
The White House typically releases proclamations in honor of fallen heroes such as McCain and to announce the decision to fly flags at half-staff, but no such statement was released yesterday, reportedly at the direction of President Donald Trump, who chose instead to honor the service of McCain via Twitter. Trump’s tweet has since been criticized for only offering condolences for the surviving members of the McCain family and not honoring the service of his former political rival.
Watch the clip above courtesy of MSNBC.
UPDATE: CBS This Morning is reporting that the White House declined to comment when reached about the U.S. flag flying at full staff.
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