President Donald Trump on Saturday said he’s sending Air Force One to bring the late President George H.W. Bush’s casket to Washington, according to a pool report.
“Air Force One will be taking myself and a group of our people back to Washington. It will then be reset and it will be sent to Houston to pick up the casket of President Bush and it will be sent back to Washington,” Trump said from Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he is attending the G-20 summit.
Trump added it was “a special tribute that he deserves very much.”
Bush, 94, died late Friday evening in Houston, Texas. The White House said Saturday that Trump would postpone a planned press conference in deference to the late former president. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump are planning to attend Bush’s state funeral at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, and designate Wednesday as a day of national mourning for the 41st president.
The White House flag is also flying at half-staff in honor of the late president.
Trump spoke before a working-dinner meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and their respective delegations. He thanked Xi for his kind words about Bush and said he would be leaving back to Washington right after dinner.
“We will be spending three days of mourning and three days of celebrating a really great man’s life,” he said.
Trump said he had “great conversations” with the elder Bush’s sons, former President George W. Bush and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush earlier on Saturday.
Xi, in remarks translated by an interpreter, said that he is “very saddened” by Bush’s death and that he sent his condolences.