The White House lowered its flags to half staff in honor of slain Capitol police officer Brian D. Sicknick on Sunday, two days after flags at the Capitol were lowered in his honor.
Earlier on Sunday, Hundreds of officers lined a street near the Capitol to honor the slain officer, as his remains were driven by.
Eyebrows across the US were raised on Saturday after the White House hadn't yet lowered flags to half-mast in honor of Sicknick, who died of his injuries on Friday which he sustained during the Capitol riot. CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins reported that "for unexplained reasons," while flags were lowered to half-mast in the Capitol, none were lowered outside the White House.
The move was criticized heavily online, as Trump had made his passion for "law and order" a cornerstone of his 2020 presidential campaign. The timing of the move was criticized further due to the fact that Saturday, January 9 was also Law Enforcement Appreciation Day in the US.For unexplained reasons, the White House did not lower flags to half-staff today in honor of the Capitol Police officer, Brian Sicknick, who died last night from injuries he sustained while on duty responding to the pro-Trump mob. The Capitol did lower flags today.
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) January 9, 2021
In addition, The New York Times reported that according to an aide to Vice President Mike Pence, while the VP has contacted Sicknick's family to offer his condolences, President Trump so far has not done so.
Sicknick, 42, died of his injuries on Friday, two days after he was assaulted by one rioters; one of whom, according to law enforcement officials, bludgeoned Sicknick in the head with a fire extinguisher during the siege.
Though a viral video has been circulating online showing a fire extinguisher being hurled at a police officer in the Capitol, it is not yet clear whether Sicknick was indeed the officer shown in the video.