Donald Trump To Hold Funeral For His Brother At White House, First Since JFK
President Donald Trump plans to hold a private funeral for his brother, Robert Trump, who passed away last week at the age of 71. The funeral will be the first time a deceased person has been brought into the White House for a service since the death of President John F. Kennedy in November of 1963, as ABC News reports.
Robert Trump’s body will be taken from New York City, where he died, to the White House where 200 family and friends have been invited for the event.
The event will be held in the East Room and will be paid for personally by Donald Trump, according to reports. It isn’t clear how many of the 200 invitees will actually attend the event, though it is reported that Melania Trump will be in attendance.
Prior to this, the last time a deceased private citizen was brought to the White House was after Louis Howe passed. Howe was an adviser and friend to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his wife, Eleanor Roosevelt. He died in 1936.
Prior to that, President Benjamin Harrison held services for the wife and daughter of his Secretary of the Navy, who were killed in a fire in 1890. The funeral for President Abraham Lincoln’s 11-year-old son was held in the same room in 1862, and three years later, Lincoln himself lay in state there after his assassination.
The president suggested that he was looking into the idea of holding the service at the White House on Monday, as USA Today reported.
“We’re looking at Friday. And we may do just a small service right here in the White House for my brother. We’re looking at doing that,” he said. “I think he’d be greatly honored. He loves our country. He loved our country so much. He was so proud of what we were doing and what we are doing for our country.”
Robert Trump died after a brief stint in the hospital with an unknown condition, as The Inquisitr previously reported.
“It is with heavy heart I share that my wonderful brother, Robert, peacefully passed away tonight. He was not just my brother, he was my best friend. He will be greatly missed, but we will meet again. His memory will live on in my heart forever. Robert, I love you. Rest in peace,” a White House statement said of his passing.
Robert Trump was previously treated in the Intensive Care Unit of Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City in June of this year.
Robert Trump, like his sibling, was a real estate developer who started out working for the Trump Organization. He was vocally supportive of Donald Trump’s political ambitions, though he maintained a lower profile than his sibling.
