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Former President Jimmy Carter Dead At 100; Trump Sides With Musk On Immigration; Commanders Win OT Thriller To Punch Playoff Ticket. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired December 30, 2024 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[05:33:12]
PAULA REID, CNN ANCHOR: It is 5:32 here on the East Coast. Here's a live look at the White House this morning where the flag is flying half-staff for former President Jimmy Carter.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Paula Reid in for Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us this morning as tributes are pouring in for America's 39th president. Jimmy Carter passing Sunday at his home in Plains, Georgia surrounded by his family.
President-elect Trump honoring Carter on Truth Social posting, "The challenges Jimmy faced as president came at a pivotal time for our country and he did everything in his power to impact the lives of all Americans. For that, we all owe him a debt of gratitude."
Carter and President Bush were also close. The outgoing president remembering his friend as a humanitarian and a relentless advocate for peace.
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JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Jimmy Carter stands as a model of what it means to live a life of meaning and purpose. A life of principle, faith, and humility.
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REID: CNN's Wolf Blitzer has more on the life and legacy of Jimmy Carter.
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JIMMY CARTER, (D) FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We just want the truth again.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR (voiceover): Jimmy Carter was elected president barely two years after the law-breaking and coverups of the Watergate scandal forced President Richard Nixon to resign. His candor seemed like a breath of fresh air.
CARTER: There is a fear that our best years are behind us, but I say to you that our nation's best if still ahead.
BLITZER (voiceover): James Earl Carter was born on October 1, 1924. His father ran an agricultural supply store in Plains, Georgia. His mother was a nurse. He was smart enough and tough enough to receive an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy just after graduation. In 1946, he married Rosalynn Smith.
[05:35:10]
His naval career took him from battleships to the new nuclear submarine program. But when his father died in 1953, he left the military and returned to Georgia where he spent the next two decades running the family peanut farm business and slowly and steadily beginning a political career that saw him elected governor of Georgia in 1970.
JODY POWELL, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: To use an old 1950's term, if there ever was a classic example of an inner-directed man Jimmy Carter's it.
BLITZER (voiceover): His close friend and associate was press secretary Jody Powell who died in 2009.
POWELL: He enjoyed people, and he enjoyed talking to people. I think he enjoyed those early days of campaigns when there was much more personal interaction with the voters than he did the latter stages when it was a series of set piece speeches and large crowds.
CARTER: My name is Jimmy Carter and I'm running for president.
BLITZER (voiceover): In 1976, the former Georgia governor went from being Jimmy who to the White House. Not everyone in Washington was happy to see him.
TOM OLIPHANT, THE BOSTON GLOBE: Washington, even more than New York, is the snobbiest city in America. And Carter and the Georgians were treated like dirt condescending and with hostility. If he had a fault, it was that he matched Washington's hostility with his own.
BLITZER (voiceover): Early on Carter was accused of presidential micromanaging of excessive attention to detail.
OLIPHANT: At his best Jimmy Carter mastered a subject and then led sometimes very effectively because of his mastery of its details.
BLITZER (voiceover): That mastery of details enabled Carter to negotiate the Camp David Peace Accords -- a deal between Egypt and Israel that led to peace treaty ending decades of war between their countries.
His most difficult presidential days came after Iranian militants took dozens of Americans hostage in Tehran in late 1979. They were held for 444 days, and eight U.S. servicemen died after President Carter ordered an elaborate rescue attempt that failed. The Iran hostage crisis was only one of the challenges that confronted President Carter. CARTER: We must face the fact that the energy shortage is permanent.
BLITZER (voiceover): During Carter's term Americans endured a sharp, steady increase in oil and gasoline prices, which forced everything to cost more. To some Carter's stark comments began to sound like moralizing.
CARTER: The erosion of our confidence in the future is threatening to destroy the social and the political fabric of America.
BLITZER (voiceover): In 1980, Carter faced Republican challenger Ronald Reagan who exuded sunny optimism and asked voters a simple question.
RONALD REAGAN, (R) FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Are you better off than you were four years ago?
BLITZER (voiceover): Jimmy Carter lost the election but not his resolve to make a difference. He and Rosalynn founded The Carter Center in part to promote peace, democracy, human rights, as well as economic and social development all over the world. Carter monitored elections for fairness.
He went to North Korea and Cuba and met with leaders usually shunned by the U.S., including representatives of Hamas, the Palestinian organization both the U.S. and Israel have branded as terrorists.
POWELL: This is a man who has a really unique commitment to public service, and it really is a calling with him.
BLITZER (voiceover): In autumn of 2002, Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the culmination of an incredible career as a world leader and as a citizen.
CARTER: I am delighted and humbled and very grateful that the Nobel Peace Prize committee has given me this recognition.
BLITZER (voiceover): He still wasn't done. Carter remained active into his 90s traveling, writing books, building Habitat for Humanity homes, and to the discomfort of his successors, speaking out on the issues of the day. He criticized Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky and called George W. Bush's international policy "the worst in history."
BLITZER: But from your definition you believe the United States under this administration has used torture.
CARTER: I don't -- I don't think it, I know it -- certainly.
BLITZER (voiceover): He also took on President Donald Trump.
STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, CBS "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": Does America want kind of a jerk as president?
CARTER: Apparently, from the recent elections -- yeah. I never knew it before. BLITZER (voiceover): Carter survived a cancer scare in 2015 and kept going.
CARTER: They couldn't find any cancer at all, so --
BLITZER (voiceover): When he attended George H.W. Bush's funeral in late 2018 he was the oldest of America's living presidents. He celebrated his own 100th birthday in 2024.
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His beloved wife Rosalynn passed away in 2023. She'd been his steadfast partner through 77 years of marriage.
Carter's diminished health prevented him from speaking at her memorial service, so their daughter Amy read a letter he wrote to Rosalynn while deployed with the Navy 75 years earlier.
AMY CARTER, DAUGHTER OF JIMMY CARTER: "My darling, every time I have ever been away from you, I have been thrilled when I returned to discover just how wonderful you are. While I am away, I try to convince myself that you really are not -- could not be as sweet and beautiful as I remember. But when I see you, I fall in love with you all over again. Does that seem strange to you? It doesn't to me."
BLITZER (voiceover): Husband, statesman, a connection to an era now gone, Jimmy Carter was a defender of values forever current.
CARTER: Those who hunger for freedom, who thirst for human dignity, and who suffer for the sake of justice -- they are the patriots of this cause. I believe with all my heart that America must always stand for these basic human rights at home and abroad. That is both our history and our destiny.
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REID: Memorial services for former President Carter will play out over the next eight days. Details have yet to be released but they include a state funeral in Washington, D.C. and ceremonies in Georgia before Carter is buried in Plains, Georgia.
We'll be right back.
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JONATHAN RECKFORD, CEO, HABITAT FOR HUMANITY: If you say Habitat for Humanity in word association, the first thing most people would say is Jimmy Carter. So they were so connected. And I think their personal example and the way they loved so much the work and the connections to the families who were purchasing the homes inspired so many. And then the sustained commitment was so extraordinary.
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REID: Building a legacy with a nail and a hammer. Former President Jimmy Carter will best be remembered for his work outside of the Oval Office. The former president went from living in the most famous house in the world to helping build more than 4,000 homes with Habitat for Humanity. According to the organization, for more than three decades the Carters worked alongside more than 100,000 volunteers in 14 countries.
Joining me now to discuss Carter's legacy, CNN political analyst and Washington bureau chief for The Boston Globe, Jackie Kucinich.
Jackie, this was, of course, expected. Carter was 100 years old. He had been in hospice --
JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, THE BOSTON GLOBE (via Webex by Cisco): Yes.
REID: -- since early 2023. But I want to start by getting your reaction to this news.
KUCINICH: Well, you're absolutely right. I think we've been preparing for this for quite some time.
But while Carter's presidency was marked by tumult both internationally and domestically his post-presidency really is -- as was mentioned there, was really remarkable and really defined what the post-presidency looks like in the modern era.
This is not someone who ever really retired. He traveled the globe promoting peace, promoting democracy, promoting human rights.
Just as that last guest mentioned, when I think of Jimmy Carter, I think of those ubiquitous pictures of him building homes --
REID: Yeah.
KUCINICH: -- often with Rosalynn right next to him -- his beloved wife of 77 years. And it -- really, that defined -- that defined him and who he was, and the legacy he left.
REID: And Jackie, I want to turn to another story we're covering this morning, of course, and that is the infighting among Republicans over expanding the visa program for highly-skilled workers.
President-elect Trump --
KUCINICH: Right.
REID: He has, of course, now come out and said he is in favor of the H1B visa and that puts him siding with Elon Musk over his more anti- immigration base.
So what does this tell you about Musk's influence and what we might see on the issue of immigration next? KUCINICH: Well, that interview in the New York Post was really interesting, that you mention, where he said that -- he seemed to side with Musk. Though he said he utilized H1B visas which, of course refer to high-skilled workers, when we know that he actually favored more visas that brought in workers with less skills which -- to have a different categorization. So there is -- it is -- there are some shades of gray there and we'll have to see exactly where he lands when he actually starts making policy as president.
That said, your point to Musk and other tech billionaires -- Silicon Valley billionaires that have brought influence within this White House -- within this incoming White House is a marked departure from what we saw in the last Trump administration where he had a very adversarial relationship with many of these leaders which seems to be, at least at this point in the assembling administration, very, very different.
REID: Now let's take a listen to what one Republican member of Congress had to say about all this.
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REP. MIKE LAWLER (R-NY): There's no question we want an America in which Americans are employed. In which they are able to fill the needs of our workforce, which means we need to revamp our education system -- our K-12 system. We need vocational schools.
We need to get kids on an earlier STEM trajectory so that they are becoming the engineers of tomorrow. But the fact is India is producing a significant number more of engineers than we are.
So it's both a function of fixing our education system and having a legal immigration system that works.
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REID: So does support for H1B visas contradict Trump's hardline promises on the campaign trail?
KUCINICH: It's really interesting, Paula, how things are shaping up post-campaign.
We know that in the first Trump presidency he did limit H1B visas and even cut them off at one point later in the presidency in 2020 -- in term -- excuse me, in 2020.
I've learned not to predict how things shake out in the Trump administration. We've all -- we've been through it before. But really, you see these two factions very powerful within the Trump orbit really going at it at this point and it's unclear who will come up victorious once things actually start moving.
REID: Jackie Kucinich with wise words. Never try to predict what will happen in a Trump administration. Thank you so much. KUCINICH: Thanks, Paula.
REID: And it's time now for sports. The Washington Commanders pulled off a dramatic comeback win in overtime earning a trip to the playoffs for the first time since 2020.
Carolyn Manno has this morning's CNN sports update.
CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
There is a really special energy around this team that hasn't been there, really, since they were still playing in the nation's capital at RFK Stadium. And Washington actually honored former President Carter before the game Sunday night against the team from Carter's home state, the Atlanta Falcons.
And then after that, Jayden Daniels showed why he's the frontrunner for Rookie of the Year, rushing for a career-high 127 yards and throwing for three touchdowns.
But the Falcons have a rookie quarterback of their own, Michael Penix Jr. And on fourth and goal from the 13-yard line, down by seven with just over two minutes to go, he delivered a strike to Kyle Pitts for the touchdown to tie it up and force overtime.
In overtime, Daniels found who else but Zach Ertz for the game-winning score.
And with his performance yesterday, the 12th-year tight end earned $750,000 in bonuses as Washington gets its first 11-win season since 1991. By the way, that's the year they last won a Super Bowl.
Elsewhere in the NFL, Eagles' running back Saquon Barkley running his way into the record books yesterday, becoming just the ninth player to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a season. He gashed the Cowboys' defense for 167 yards on 31 carries in a 41-7 blowout win, locking up the 2-seed in the NFC for Philly.
And how's this for fate. He needs 101 yards in the season finale to break Eric Dickerson's all-time single season record of 2,105. And the Eagles' opponent is his old team, the Giants. I am sure he will get it done.
The Vikings might be the most under-the-radar 14-2 team in NFL history and a huge part of that is Sam Darnold. The former number three pick playing for this fourth team in five years. Darnold, the runaway for comeback player of the year. He was incredible again yesterday throwing for 377 yards and three touchdowns against the Packers.
Minnesota led by as many as 17 midway through the fourth before holding on to the 27-25 win.
And Darnold's teammates showering him with love and water after the game, and well-deserved.
This week just keeps on giving, too, Paula. Tomorrow, the friendly confines become the frozen confines as Wrigley Field hosts the Blackhawks and Blues for the first-ever New Year's Eve Winter Classic. Coverage begins at 4:00 p.m. Eastern and the puck drops at 5:00. And you can watch that on our sister channel TNT. You can also stream it on Max.
And then the college football playoffs ring in the new year as well starting with the Fiesta Bowl tomorrow night. You've got a New Year's Day triple-header.
So really, Paula, no reason to get out of your pajamas for at least another three to four days if you're watching this at home. Back to you.
REID: That is the best news I've heard -- you don't have to get out of your pajamas. Carolyn, thank you.
MANNO: Sure.
REID: And in our next hour on CNN THIS MORNING we continue to look back at former President Jimmy Carter's life. After decades of conflict, a historic handshake and how he helped bring peace to the Middle East. Plus, how his unflinching faith shaped him as a politician and a humanitarian.
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CARTER: Oh, I don't have any fear of death. I don't -- I'm not prepared to die. I want to live as long as I can and enjoy life and enjoy the companionship.
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REID: It's Monday, December 30. Right now on CNN THIS MORNING --
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CARTER: I believe with all my heart that America must always stand for these basic human rights at home and abroad.
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REID: Paying tribute. America prepares to say farewell to its 39th president, Jimmy Carter, after he passed Sunday.
Plus --
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CARTER: A significant achievement in the cause of peace.
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REID: A defining moment. Jimmy Carter's fight for peace, brokering a historic agreement between two rivals that stills stands today.
And --
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CARTER: And now I feel -- you know, it's in the hands of God whom I worship.
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