John McCain tells close friends he doesn’t want Trump at his funeral, report says

John McCain, who has been fighting brain cancer for almost a year, told his inner circle that he does not want President Donald Trump to attend his funeral and would prefer Vice President Mike Pence to be present instead, according to a media report.

The Arizona Republican, 81, is recovering from surgery related to an intestinal infection and has been undergoing treatment for a rare, aggressive type of brain cancer called glioblastoma.

The New York Times reports that McCain’s close friends have notified the White House of his current plan, in which Pence will attend the senator’s funeral, but not Trump. The service will be held at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., with former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush among those scheduled to deliver eulogies.

Trump did not attend the funeral of former first lady Barbara Bush in April in an effort “to avoid disruptions due to added security” and instead sent first lady Melania Trump to represent the White House. She was pictured in a photo that went viral alongside George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush and Laura Bush, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Barack and Michelle Obama.

Trump’s turbulent relationship with McCain has intensified since the early days of the 2016 presidential race when McCain first criticized Trump for invigorating “the crazies” and for his stance against Mexican immigrants in a presidential-announcement speech that drew outrage.

Weeks later, Trump lashed out at McCain on the campaign trail, disparaging the senator’s war record, saying, “He’s not a war hero. He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.” McCain spent over five years in captivity as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam.

Since then, McCain has remained a vocal critic against Trump, denouncing his comments, criticizing the Trump administration’s approach to politics, and casting the deciding vote against the Republican bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Former Vice President Joe Biden, whose son Beau died from brain cancer in 2015, recently spent time with the senator at his Arizona ranch and told the New York Times that McCain was “concerned about the state of the country.”

Biden said, “We talked about how our international reputation is being damaged and we talked about the need for people to stand up and speak out,” the report said.