--- title: Cindy McCain: Why Trump Wasn't Invited to Husband's Funeral description: Cindy McCain said President Trump was absent at her husband Sen. John McCain's funeral because she wanted to keep it "with dignity." canonical: https://time.com/5461466/cindy-mccain-trump-john-mccain-funeral/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-11-21T18:55:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T22:06:42.409Z article:section: Politics og:title: Cindy McCain Says Trump Wasn't Invited to Husband's Funeral Because She Wanted to Keep It 'With Dignity' og:description: She's also not sure she'll "ever get over" Trump claiming her husband wasn't a war hero og:url: https://time.com/5461466/cindy-mccain-trump-john-mccain-funeral/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbf3b1ff5791d77c4/69893fbc457a523388d5ff4a/cindy-mccain-trump-john-mccain.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5472 og:image:height: 3078 og:image:alt: Washington Redskins v Arizona Cardinals og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Cindy McCain Says Trump Wasn't Invited to Husband's Funeral Because She Wanted to Keep It 'With Dignity' twitter:description: She's also not sure she'll "ever get over" Trump claiming her husband wasn't a war hero twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbf3b1ff5791d77c4/69893fbc457a523388d5ff4a/cindy-mccain-trump-john-mccain.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Cindy McCain Says Trump Wasn't Invited to Husband's Funeral Because She Wanted to Keep It 'With Dignity' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Nov 21, 2018 6:55 PM UTC  Cindy McCain, wife of the late U.S. Senator John McCain stands on the sidelines before the game between the Arizona Cardinals and the Washington Redskins at State Farm Stadium on September 9, 2018 in Glendale, Arizona. Cindy McCain, wife of the late U.S. Senator John McCain stands on the sidelines before the game between the Arizona Cardinals and the Washington Redskins at State Farm Stadium on September 9, 2018 in Glendale, Arizona.Christian Petersen—Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Nov 21, 2018 6:55 PM UTC Cindy McCain, the wife of the late Sen. John McCain, said President Trump was not invited to her husband’s funeral because she wanted to keep the ceremony “with dignity.” “Even though it was a very public funeral, we are still a family,” McCain said in an [interview with BBC](https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-46270318/cindy-mccain-i-ll-never-get-over-trump-s-war-hero-slur-on-husband). “It was important to me that we kept it respectful and calm and not politicize it.” Although [Trump was not present for the funeral](http://time.com/5384954/john-mccain-final-act/), daughter Ivanka Trump attended alongside husband Jared Kushner, as did White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. Former presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush also both attended the funeral and delivered eulogies. Trump had a [longtime feud](http://time.com/5379510/trump-mccain-funeral-history/) with the Arizona Republican, and the tension between them drew national attention during the 2016 Republican presidential primary, when Trump said McCain was not a war hero because he was captured and held for more than five years in a North Vietnamese prison. “He’s not a war hero,” Trump said at the Family Leadership Summit in 2015\. “He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.” Cindy McCain said Trump’s comments were hurtful to her family and other veterans. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get over it; I’ll be honest,” she said. “But I’m the wife. That’s my prerogative. 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