WASHINGTON, D.C., Jan. 10, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — Donald Trump has ordered flags at the White House and other federal facilities to be flown at half-staff as “a sign of respect for the service and sacrifice of United States Capitol Police Officers Brian D. Sicknick and Howard Liebengood” according to a White House press release issued Sunday afternoon.
Trump’s statement comes more than 72 hours after Sicknick’s death, which is now being investigated as a homicide.
The out-going president had been under mounting pressure to order flags at the White House lowered, something Nancy Pelosi had done at the U.S. Capitol Building on Friday.
Capitol Police said Sicknick, 42, was “responding to the riots on Wednesday, January 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol and was injured while physically engaging with protesters. He returned to his division office and collapsed. He was taken to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.”
Word of Officer Liebengood‘s off-duty passing Saturday came to light Sunday in a statement by Capitol Police, confirming the 51-year-old officer’s death, but not addressing reports he had taken his own life.
Liebengood was a 15-year veteran of the Capitol Police and the son of former Senate Sergeant-At-Arms Howard S. Liebengood.
Trump’s order that flags being lowered to half-staff is as follows:
“As a sign of respect for the service and sacrifice of United States Capitol Police Officers Brian D. Sicknick and Howard Liebengood, and all Capitol Police Officers and law enforcement across this great Nation, by the authority vested in me as President of the United States by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby order that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions until sunset, January 13, 2021,” the proclamation from the President reads in part.
“I also direct that the flag shall be flown at half-staff for the same length of time at all United States embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations.”
In Utah on Sunday, newly inaugurated Gov. Spencer Cox ordered flags be flown at half-staff at all state facilities and public grounds from sunrise until sunset on Monday. Individuals, businesses, schools, municipalities, counties and others also were encouraged to fly the flag at half-staff for the same length of time as a sign of respect.
