Funeral services for President Donald Trump’s younger brother, Robert, have been scheduled for Friday afternoon, according to CNN. The businessman, 71, died Saturday at a New York hospital.
On Thursday, Trump told reporters at the White House, “We’re looking at Friday. We may do just a small service right here at the White House for my brother. We’re looking at doing that. That would be, I think, a great honor to him. I think he’d be greatly honored. He loved our country, he loved our country so much, he was so proud.”
Although details about the service have been kept private, and the event is not on Trump’s public calendar, the Trump family has invited 200 people to attend. “The service is expected to be held in the East Room of the White House,” reports ABC News. A source familiar with the arrangements also told the outlet that any costs would be covered by the president personally.
The last time a private citizen’s remains were brought to the White House for a funeral was in 1936 for a memorial for Louis Howe, an adviser to former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, ABC said.
Trump family friend and supporter Franklin Graham posted his encouragement on Facebook: “Today President Donald J. Trump will bury his best friend, his younger brother Robert who passed away over the weekend. I know this is a difficult thing to do. With all of the issues in our country and around the world, we need to remember that the President has a tremendous weight on his shoulders. Join me in praying that the Lord will help him, protect him, and will comfort the entire family today and in the days to come.”
Today President Donald J. Trump will bury his best friend, his younger brother Robert who passed away over the weekend….
Posted by Franklin Graham on Friday, August 21, 2020
Trump visited his brother the day before he died and, in a statement released after Robert’s death, called him his “best friend.” Robert, in turn, had described himself as a big supporter of his brother’s first presidential race in a 2016 interview with the New York Post, saying, “I support Donald one thousand percent.” {eoa}
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