Fox News, August 25, 2014

The White House sent three officials to attend Monday’s funeral for Michael Brown in St. Louis–three more than it sent for former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s funeral last year.

The administration’s handling of the Brown funeral already has started to raise comparisons between the two.

For Monday’s funeral, the White House sent two officials with the White House Office of Public Engagement as well as Broderick Johnson, chairman of the My Brother’s Keeper Task Force.

No White House officials, though, were part of the presidential delegation sent last year to Thatcher’s funeral. For that, the White House sent former secretaries of State George Schultz and James Baker III–as well as the charge d’affaires to the U.K. and the former U.S. ambassador.

At the time, the nature of the delegation stirred controversy in the British media as tabloids claimed British officials felt snubbed that high-level American officials–including President Obama himself–were not attending.

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But in the case of Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old fatally shot by a police officer earlier this month, the Obama administration has devoted considerable resources. Attorney General Eric Holder visited Ferguson, Mo., last week and has dozens of investigators on the ground conducting a federal civil rights probe.

The administration also said that one of the White House officials attending the funeral on Monday had a personal connection.

Marlon Marshall, deputy director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, is a St. Louis native and went to high school with Michael Brown’s mother.

The other White House official is Heather Foster, public engagement adviser for the White House Office of Public Engagement.

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