Feb. 9 (UPI) — President Donald Trump marked the death of former Rep. John Dingell on Friday by ordering flags at public sites to fly at half-staff until sunset Saturday.
Dingell, the longest-serving member of Congress in U.S. history, who died Thursday at age 92, was a “highly respected man,” Trump said Friday afternoon on Twitter. Trump issued the flag proclamation earlier Friday.
“Deepest sympathies to Congresswoman Debbie Dingell and the entire family of John Dingell,” Trump said. “Longest serving Congressman in Country’s history which, if people understand politics, means he was very smart.”
The office of Rep. Debbie Dingell, who took over her husband’s seat in Congress upon his retirement in 2015, announced the former congressman would be interred at Arlington National Cemetery. John Dingell served in the Army during the World War II era.
A visitation will be held at the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center in Dearborn, Mich., on Monday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. A funeral mass will be held at Dearborn’s Sacred Heart Catholic Church on Tuesday at 11 a.m. Both events will be open to the public.
Trump was joined by other political figures in paying tribute to Dingell on Friday. The Detroit News reported members of Congress remembered the Democrat on the House floor.
“He was an icon,” Rep. Bill Huizenga, a Michigan Republican, said. “A lion of the House.”
