Is President Donald Trump unwelcome at Sen. John McCain's funeral?

Dan Nowicki | The Republic | azcentral.com

"Intimates" of ailing U.S. Sen. John McCain have told the White House that President Donald Trump is not invited to the six-term Arizona Republican's funeral, the New York Times reported Saturday.

McCain's "intimates" were not named by the Times, which also disclosed that the "current plan" for McCain's funeral is a service at National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., which they want Vice President Mike Pence to attend instead of Trump.

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McCain and Trump since 2015 have had a notoriously hostile relationship.

Trump once mocked McCain's record as a POW during the Vietnam War, saying McCain is "a war hero because he was captured" and that he liked "people that weren’t captured."

Sen. John McCain plans not to have Trump at his funeral Senator John McCain’s inner circle reportedly told the White House they don’t want President Trump to attend the Arizona republican’s eventual funeral.Veuer's Maria Mercedes Galuppo has more.

McCain: Trump's behavior disturbing

In his forthcoming memoir, which The Arizona Republic has obtained, McCain delivers a scathing assessment of Trump, saying that to the president, "the appearance of toughness or a reality show facsimile of toughness seems to matter more than any of our values."

RELATED: McCain reads from new book in emotional excerpt

"His lack of empathy for refugees, innocent, persecuted, desperate men, women, and children, is disturbing," McCain writes in "The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations," set for publication May 22. "The way he speaks about them is appalling, as if welfare or terrorism were the only purposes they could have in coming to our country."

"His reaction to unflattering news stories, calling them 'fake news,' whether they're credible or not, is copied by autocrats who want to discredit and control a free press," McCain writes. "He has declined to distinguish the actions of our government from the crimes of despotic ones. He has showered with praise some of the world's worst tyrants."

Vice President Mike Pence talks about Sen. John McCain in Tempe Vice President Mike Pence talks about Sen. John McCain at an "America First Policies" event in Tempe on May 1, 2018.

Pence praises McCain

Earlier this week, Pence praised McCain, the 2008 GOP presidential nominee, at a stop in Tempe.

"You know, he's spent an entire lifetime fighting for the country that he loves, in the United States Navy, in the House of Representatives and representing Arizona in the United States Senate," Pence said. "Now I know he's fighting this illness with courage and with strength."

RELATED: Pence: People across U.S. are praying for McCain

McCain, 81, since July has been battling a deadly form of brain cancer called glioblastoma. He has not been in Washington, D.C., since December. Official updates on his health have been rare, but he is currently at his family retreat in Cornville, near Sedona.

In an interview with CBS' "60 Minutes" last year, McCain said he wanted a memorial service held at the U.S. Naval Academy, his alma mater. In his forthcoming memoir, "The Restless Wave," McCain indicates that he will be buried at the U.S. Naval Academy Cemetery in Annapolis, Maryland.

RELATED: With McCain ill, officials focus on rules to fill a vacancy

The New York Times report on Saturday also said unnamed "associates," who are not McCain relatives, are now advocating that Gov. Doug Ducey appoint a "McCain person" to fill any Senate vacancy caused by McCain's death or resignation.

Cindy McCain, his wife, reportedly would fit that bill, the Times said.

Nowicki is The Arizona Republic's interim national politics editor. Follow him on Twitter, @dannowicki.

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