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CNN Live Event/Special

The State Funeral of President Jimmy Carter; Soon, State Funeral for Jimmy Carter at National Cathedral. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired January 09, 2025 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[10:00:00]

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I just want to -- it's not happening right now, but I just want to emphasize that until 30 seconds ago, Donald Trump was talking to Barack Obama's ear off, his ear off.

ANITA MCBRIDE, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF TO LAURA BUSH: I like seeing that actually.

BASH: Well, I'm not sure how much Barack Obama liked it, but he was being gracious and, you know, classy, as one does. And now, of course, he's turned around and he's talking to the man who was Donald Trump's vice president, but was not chosen for this particular time after his life was threatened. Mike Pence's life was threatened on January 6th, 2021.

But just that moment because --

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Here's President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden. And I think he has 11 days left as a president of the United States. Obviously, an eventful year, one that he did not plan for, started the year as the would-be Democratic presidential nominee and we all know what happened after that.

Again, you didn't see a particularly warm greeting between the first couple and the second couple. But, again, we are at a funeral, so one has to take that into account when trying to read the body language of the individuals there.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR: It also strikes me that we're witnessing a certain almost end of an era. There's only one president left of the 20th century, which is a quite a statement that we are in a completely different era now from when Jimmy Carter was president of the United States. And you have to imagine that if you are a former president in those pews, you're thinking about the fact that, at some point, this is going to be a moment that will happen for you.

I mean, I can't imagine what that must be like to know that this pomp and circumstance that you're witnessing for someone else could be at some point extended to you and all of those men, will be extended to them, all of those men there have gone through the planning process, all of those men there have thought about it, I think particularly of President Trump, who I think surprised a lot of people with how, at least his written statements and some of his verbal statements about Jimmy Carter have been incredibly gracious.

He disagrees with Jimmy Carter on virtually everything, but something tells me that understanding he has been president once, he will be president again, understanding what that job entails, understanding what this moment means, having President Trump, not one, but two near death experiences just in the last year. He has been incredibly gracious about Jimmy Carter in at least his written word and some of his spoken word, despite a lot of policy disagreements, including some that he's trying to actively overturn right now as we speak.

TAPPER: Right. The casket is being removed from the hearse and soon will be carried into National Cathedral, a solemn moment outside the National Cathedral.

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: So, much of this is the military precision. And we talked about the president to review their plans. The military practice this every six months. They practice to make sure that it's perfect because there is only one chance to get this right.

[10:05:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With faith in Jesus Christ, we received the body of our brother, James, for burial. Let us pray with confidence to God, the giver of life, that he will raise him to perfection in the company of the saints.

Deliver your servant, James, O sovereign Lord Christ, from all evil and set him free from every bond that he may rest with all your saints in the eternal habitations, where with the father and the Holy Spirit, you live and reign one God forever and ever.

RT. REV. MARIANN EDGAR BUDDE, BISHOP, EPISCOPAL DIOCESE OF WASHINGTON: Let us also pray for all who mourn that they may cast their care on God and know the consolation of his love. Almighty God, look with pity on the sorrows of your servants for whom we pray. Remember them, Lord, in mercy. Nourish them with patience. Comfort them with a sense of your goodness. Lift up your countenance upon them and give them peace through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

TAPPER: We have some information about the Secret Service agents that were standing by the hearse earlier.

GANGEL: One of them, Don, who was with the blue tie, he is now the head of the detail. But what I wanted to point out is that, you know, we're seeing the military conduct most of this, but his Secret Service agents and detail will be with him escorting the casket through to the very end. They will be there at the burial. They will be standing guard throughout. It is that kind of devotion.

And just one quick story, he was under Secret Service protection for 48 years as a protectee.

[10:10:02]

MCBRIDE: It's the longest one in the history of the Secret Service. GANGEL: And one of his former agents, who had actually retired, came back in under a special program and was asked to be assigned to Carter in his final years just because of that personal relationship. Obviously, the most important thing is protecting him, but he really developed a very special, personal relationship with his detail.

MCBRIDE: I think it was that agent who actually said in the latter years of his life, President Carter wanted to drive a car one last time. And the agent said to him, you can't, you don't have a driver's license. And he said, well, take me to the driver's license agency then to get a car.

I don't think it happened. But that just shows you again, just the humanity.

TAPPER: It was Amy Carter, the late president's daughter and one and only daughter. That's one of the things that he and Gerald Ford bonded over that they both had three sons and then finally with their fourth child had a daughter.

GANGEL: And Susan is there today too.

TAPPER: The Road Home sung by the Cathedral Choir. We saw some world leaders there, probably as we've noted. The world leaders with whom Jimmy Carter dealt passed away a long time ago. I'd have to go back and do my research on who was the prime minister of this or that in the 1970s, but I don't think any of them are left.

BASH: No, I mean, I'm not sure if he was with Justin Trudeau's father. But as we had seen Justin Trudeau before, what I was thinking about was Jimmy Carter admitting that after he lost and didn't get reelected for a second term, that he was so depressed, he couldn't get out of bed for a while. And just thinking about where we are now, where there are democracies, including this one, but also all around the globe, where world leaders are being ousted by their people, whether they're Democrats or Republicans for lots of reasons, but in large part because of economic despair, because of inflation. So, there are a lot of kind of bookends and similarities and parallels between the times back then and now, Justin Trudeau, coming back to him he's on his way out because of that.

And, of course, there we see President Biden.

TAPPER: That's Chip Carter, the president's son, who last Saturday was talking about his father teaching him Latin when he was struggling in school and then was able to get a -- do a makeup test and got a hundred on him because his father learned the Latin during the day then would come home and teach his son.

It is fascinating how presidents get to plan their funerals. I'm thinking now about the one, the funeral we saw for the late Senator John McCain, and he had the two men who had defeated him, George W. Bush, running for president in the Republican primaries in 2000, and Barack Obama in the general election in 2008. He had them, those two men, eulogizing him, which was remarkable. We're going to hear from, as you noted, the Honorable Andrew Young, who was President Carter's ambassador to the United Nations. We're also going to hear from Joshua Carter, the president's son. Eulogies written by the fathers, Steve Ford will deliver the eulogy written by his father, former president Gerald Ford. Ted Mondale will deliver the eulogy written by Jimmy Carter's vice president, Walter Mondale, both of whom Jimmy Carter outlived. Stu Eizenstat, who was here at the panel a couple days ago who was in the Carter administration. Jason Carter, President Carter's grandson, and also a politician in his own right. President Biden will speak, give a tribute. Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood will perform the song, Imagine, which is an interesting selection, and also we're told one of President Carter's favorite songs.

[10:15:00]

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You see now the staff of the cathedral about to lead the president.

Anita mentioned this earlier, on a day when we can talk politics when it's appropriate, but I think more importantly is to talk about the service here, both those in the cathedral and the remarkable service of the members of the military, of all branches of the military, and just the precision and the respect.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's their final honor to their former commander in chief.

KING: We sadly only say thank you on days like this when we should say thank you every day for what they do.

PHILLIP: And for the people who are wondering why there is so much of the military represented for me, it's important to remember that this is again a special American tradition that the entire military is honoring their commander in chief, who is a civilian.

REV. ANDREW YOUNG, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: I am the resurrection and the life, sayeth the Lord. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. I know that my Redeemer lives, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.

And though this body be destroyed, yet shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not as a stranger for none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.

[10:20:20]

YOUNG: For if we live and if we die, we die unto the Lord.

For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For if we live, we live unto the Lord, and we die unto the Lord. Whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.

Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. Even so, sayeth the Spirit, for they rest from their labors. VERY REV. RANDOLPH MARSHALL HOLLERITH, DEAN, WASHINGTON NATIONAL CATHEDRAL: The Lord be with you. Let us pray.

O God whose mercies cannot be numbered, accept our prayers on behalf of your servant, James, and grant him an entrance into the land of light and joy in the fellowship of your saints. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

JOSHUA CARTER, JIMMY CARTER'S GRANDSON: My grandfather started teaching Sunday school when midshipman at the Naval Academy. He taught the Bible every Sunday from World War II to COVID. For all of my grandfather's travels, he structured his life so that he was home in Plains to teach at Maranatha on Sunday. It was central to his life.

Every time I went to church with him, it was packed. The line started before sunrise, and I was always very thankful that I got to walk in with my grandmother. And as soon as we sat down, Sunday school would start. My grandfather always began by asking if anybody had been in his church before. My grandmother and I raised our hands and almost no one stood.

[10:25:00]

And then my grandfather would pull the congregation. And we quickly find out that the church was full of people from all over the country of all different backgrounds and beliefs. And my grandfather would address the most diverse Sunday school class ever assembled again.

Before he delivered his Bible lesson, my grandfather talked about his week. If you monitor an election, he'd talk about it. If he stopped the conflict, he'd talk about it. If he eliminated a disease from a village or a country, he would talk about it. When my brother, Jeremy, died, he announced that news in Sunday school. In fact, I remember that my brother died on a Sunday because it was the only time my grandfather was ever late to teach.

My grandfather won the Nobel peace prize. The Sunday school class learned first. At the end of his Nobel Peace Prize lecture, he stated the most serious and universal problem on our planet is the growing chasm between the richest and poorest people on Earth. For the next two decades, as the problem compounded, he returned to this theme with stories from the Bible and stories from today of the richest people in the world using their enormous wealth to buy a nation's poverty.

Many of the people that my grandparents helped lived on less than one dollar a day. My grandfather spent the entire time I've known him helping those in need. He built houses for people that needed homes. He eliminated diseases in forgotten places. He waged peace anywhere in the world, wherever he saw a chance. He loved people.

And whenever he told these stories in Sunday school, he always said he did it for one simple reason. He worshipped the Prince of Peace and he commanded it. The bedrock of my grandfather's faith comes from the Apostle Paul's letter to the Romans, Chapter 8, 1-18, 38 and 39. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because Christ Jesus -- because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set be free from the law of sin and death.

For what the law was powerless to do, and that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin authoring. And so he condemns sin and sinful man in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires. But those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.

The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature, but by the Spirit, that the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your Spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who lives in you. Amen.

Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation. But it is not to the sinful nature to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a Spirit that makes you a slave again to fear but you receive the Spirit of Sonship, and by Him we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself testifies with our Spirit that we are God's children.

[10:30:00]

Now if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.