Trump orders flags to be lowered at White House and official buildings in 'mark of respect' for late civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis
- Flags were flown half-mast at the White House and the Capitol on Saturday in honor of the passing of civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis.
- Lewis was a 17-term congressman for Georgia who died Friday at the age of 80 after a months-long battle with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
- Lewis's death on Friday prompted an outpouring of reactions from lawmakers, celebrities, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, and President Donald Trump.
The White House announced it would honor civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis a day after his death with flags on official US buildings to be flown at half-mast through Saturday.
The proclamation read: "As a mark of respect for the memory and longstanding public service of Representative John Lewis, of Georgia, I hereby order, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions through July 18, 2020."
President Donald Trump signed the proclamation but did not make an individual statement on Lewis' death Saturday, when White House pool reports said he was golfing at his Sterling, Virginia, course.
President Donald Trump wrote in a tweet later Saturday afternoon that he was "saddened to hear the news of civil rights hero John Lewis passing."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's deputy chief of staff Drew Hammill said in a Saturday morning tweet that Pelosi had also ordered the lowering of the flags at the Capitol building.
Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany wrote on Twitter Saturday morning that the administration was thinking of the congressman's family and remembered his "incredible contributions to our country."
"Rep. John Lewis was an icon of the civil rights movement, and he leaves an enduring legacy that will never be forgotten," McEnany wrote. "We hold his family in our prayers, as we remember Rep. John Lewis' incredible contributions to our country."
Lewis's death prompted reactions from scores of lawmakers, including former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, House speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Rep. Ilhan Omar.
"He gave a voice to the voiceless, and he reminded each of us that the most powerful nonviolent tool is the vote. Our hearts feel empty without our friend, but we find comfort knowing that he is free at last," human rights advocate Martin Luther King III wrote on Twitter.
More than 398,000 people signed a petition to have the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama renamed after Lewis, Insider's Connor Perrett reported.
Pettus was a decorated Confederate general and a leader of the Alabama chapter of the Ku Klux Klan whom the bridge was named after in 1940. On March 7, 1965, the bridge served as the site of "Bloody Sunday," the violent clash between 600 peaceful civil rights demonstrators and Alabama state troopers. Lewis, who was then 25, famously marched at the front of protestors to confront police before he was beaten and ultimately sustained a fractured skull.
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