Barack and Michelle Obama, among others, not in attendance at Vice President Dick Cheney’s funeral

Barack and Michelle Obama skipped the funeral of former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney.

On Thursday, hundreds of dignitaries filled the pews of Washington National Cathedral to say goodbye to the former VP, who died on Nov. 3 at age 84 — but a few notable names were missing from the crowd.

According to People, the Obamas opted to skip the service for reasons that remain unclear. And they weren’t the only absentees. Former President Bill Clinton was also absent due to a scheduling conflict. Per Axios, President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance didn’t show either — though in their case, they reportedly weren’t invited.

Now, to be fair, the Obamas have sat out a VP funeral before — they didn’t attend Walter Mondale’s in 2022 — and the expectation for former presidents to attend in general isn’t exactly written in stone. Still, it raises eyebrows that the current administration wasn’t represented, given Cheney’s outsized role in modern Republican politics. Then again, Cheney did break ranks to endorse the Democratic ticket in 2024, delivering one of the clearest rebukes of the GOP’s direction in recent memory. Looks like he kept that same energy all the way to the end.

Meanwhile, former President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris — whom Cheney endorsed — were very much in the building. Also present were former President George W. Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush, with Bush offering remarks about the man who served as his vice president for two terms.

Cheney, regarded as one of the most influential and controversial vice presidents in modern U.S. history, served as Secretary of Defense under President George H.W. Bush, helped steer U.S. military strategy during the Gulf War, and went on to become a defining architect of post-9/11 policy during the George W. Bush administration.

Though the Obamas didn’t attend his funeral, Barack Obama did issue a statement shortly after Cheney’s death.

“Although Dick Cheney and I represented very different political traditions, I respected his life-long devotion to public service and his deep love of country,” he wrote in a Facebook post days after Cheney died. “Michelle and I extend our deepest condolences to his family.”