Biden to attend services for Bob Dole

President Biden will attend the late Sen. Bob Dole’s (R-Kansas) funeral on Friday at the Washington National Cathedral, Dole’s family announced Tuesday.

Biden will join other former U.S. presidents at a memorial service at the cathedral, though it’s not clear which ones will attend. It was also not clear if Biden would speak.

Biden served with Dole in the Senate for more than 20 years and remembered him as a “friend” and “an American statesman like few in our history.” The two visited in February at the Watergate in Washington, D.C., after Dole had announced his lung cancer diagnosis.

Dole died on Sunday at 98. The former senator disclosed in February that he had been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and would be undergoing treatment. 

Following Friday’s memorial service, there will be a celebration of life at the World War II Memorial. Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, NBC anchor Savannah Guthrie and Tom Hanks will all speak. Dole’s body will then be flown to Kansas.