Former President George Bush asked his son, former President George W. Bush, to lead off the eulogies. Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney of Canada and former Senator Alan Simpson will also speak.
President Trump will attend but not speak at this week’s funeral service for former President George Bush, seemingly a compromise intended to respect tradition while avoiding an awkward moment given the animosity between the current president and the Bush family.
Instead, eulogies will be delivered by former President George W. Bush, Mr. Bush’s son, and two friends, former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney of Canada and former Senator Alan Simpson, Republican of Wyoming. Rounding out the speakers will be Jon Meacham, the Pulitzer-winning historian and author of the definitive biography of the 41st president.
Mr. Trump, who has been sharply critical of the Bush family in the past, has offered nothing but praise for the former president since his death at age 94 on Friday and made no complaint about being left off the roster of funeral speakers.
“Looking forward to being with the Bush Family to pay my respects to President George H. W. Bush,” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter on Monday.
The lineup for the state funeral service at Washington National Cathedral on Wednesday emerged as Mr. Bush began his final trip to the nation’s capital. Despite the tension with the Bush family, Mr. Trump followed protocol by sending the blue-and-white presidential jet to pick up the former president’s coffin in Texas and bring it to Washington. Normally called Air Force One when the sitting president is onboard, it was given the call sign Special Air Mission 41 for the occasion.
During a simple but somber ceremony at Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base outside Houston, Mr. Bush’s coffin was loaded onto the plane. The younger Mr. Bush; his wife, Laura; his brother Neil; and other members of the family stood at attention during a 21-gun salute and the playing of “Hail to the Chief.
