Trump pays his respects to Jimmy Carter at the Capitol
Written by ABC Audio All Rights Reserved on January 8, 2025
(WASHINGTON) — President-elect Donald Trump paid his respects to former President Jimmy Carter on Wednesday at the Capitol Rotunda.
Trump is set to meet with Senate Republicans later Wednesday to discuss how to move forward on advancing his agenda once he returns to the White House.
Carter, the nation’s 39th president, is lying in state as part of his state funeral in the nation’s capital.
Carter is being honored with a funeral service on Thursday at Washington National Cathedral, just miles north of the White House.
President Joe Biden is set to deliver the eulogy. Trump said he will also be attending the funeral despite their history of mutual criticism.
Trump, who has praised Carter as a “good man,” has in recent days taken aim at his Panama Canal treaty that resulted in the U.S. ceding control of the critical waterway to the Central American nation.
The president-elect, who will be sworn in later this month, has also griped about flags being half-staff during his inauguration because of the 30-day mourning period for Carter. Trump said that “no American can be happy about it.”
Carter, who died on Dec. 29 at the age of 100, was remembered with several events in his home state of Georgia before his remains were transported to Washington on Tuesday.
Members of Carter’s family walked down Pennsylvania Avenue behind his flag-draped casket being carried in a horse-drawn caisson to the Capitol.
Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson gave remarks in the Rotunda. Vice President Kamala Harris delivered a eulogy celebrating his presidency but also his humanitarian work after he left office.
“We have heard much today and in recent days about President Carter’s impact in the four decades after he left the White House, rightly so,” Harris said. “Jimmy Carter established a new model for what it means to be a former president, and leaves an extraordinary post presidential legacy.”
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