Senator John McCain is battling cancer. Photo / AP
Ailing Republican senator John McCain does not want US President Donald Trump to attend his funeral, the White House has been told.
Instead, his associates have asked Vice-President Mike Pence be at the ceremony when the time comes, and for former presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush to give
eulogies at the National Cathedral in Washington, according to the New York Times.
McCain, a former presidential candidate and Vietnam war hero, has been undergoing treatment for glioblastoma, a rare brain cancer, since his diagnosis last year, the Daily Telegraph reports.
He and Trump have had a turbulent relationship. During the 2016 presidential primary candidate Trump said McCain was considered a war hero only "because he was captured" during the Vietnam War and that he preferred military figures who avoided being taken prisoner by the enemy.
And last summer, the US leader criticised the Arizona politician for his "no" vote that helped doom a key part of his Obamacare repeal bill in the Senate.
