New York: US President Donald Trump has bowed to public pressure by agreeing to re-lower the American flag over the White House in honour of one of his most vociferous critics, the late US senator and former Republican presidential nominee John McCain.

The White House flag was lowered to half-mast on Saturday evening after McCain's death but was returned to full-mast a day later. Trump's reversal came just hours after McCain's spokesman released a farewell statement containing clear rebukes of the President.

The official rule is that flags fly at half-mast for 24 hours after a member of Congress dies, but leaders of both political parties and military veteran groups said it was disrespectful not to keep the flags lowered for longer given McCain's legacy as a Vietnam War veteranof state had not spoken about U.S. military capabilities. But she also emphasized that Tillerson's words as secretary of state carry significant weight.

"I think that everyone has clearly heard what Secretary Tillerson's forceful comments have been and continue to be on the issue of DPRK and on other countries as well," Nauert said, using an abbreviated version of North Korea's official name. "He's a cabinet secretary. He's the fourth in line to the presidency. He carries a big stick."

Gorka, in an emailed statement sent Thursday via a White House spokesman, said media interpretations of his comments as undercutting Tillerson's remarks represented a "deliberate distortion of my comments and yet another example of fake news."

"I was clearly stating that it is absurd for reporters to try to press the