Flags lowered to half-staff at the White House and Capitol to honor the late Rep. John Lewis

WASHINGTON – Flags have been lowered to half-staff at the Capitol and the White House, public buildings, and military bases as lawmakers honored Rep. Jonn Lewis' death.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's deputy chief of staff Drew Hammill announced the lowering of flags at the Capitol in a Saturday morning tweet.

"Speaker Pelosi has ordered the flags at the U.S. Capitol to be flown at half-staff due to the passing of Congressman John Lewis," Hammill wrote.

The flag at the White House was lowered to half-staff as well. In a proclamation released Saturday morning, President Donald Trump ordered flags to half-staff at public buildings and military installations throughout the country "as a mark of respect for the memory and longstanding public service of Representative John Lewis."

Trump made a short post on Twitter later Saturday marking Lewis' death and saying he was "saddened" to hear the news. The president had spent part of the morning at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia.

"Melania and I send our prayers to he and his family," Trump wrote.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany issued a statement on Twitter on Saturday morning, hailing the late congressman as an "icon of the civil rights movement" with an "enduring legacy that will never be forgotten."

In Atlanta, which Lewis represented for over 30 years, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms ordered flags lowered to half-staff indefinitely in the city, and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp asked for flags in the state to be lowered to half-staff until the sunset of Lewis' interment.

More: Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights icon who began pushing for racial justice in the Jim Crow South, has died

Lewis, who was diagnosed with Stage IV pancreatic cancer in December last year, died Friday night at the age of 80.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Rep. John Lewis dead at 80: White House and Capitol flags lowered