WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� President-elect Donald Trump, who has alternated among praising, criticizing and even mocking , came Wednesday to the Capitol Rotunda to pay his respects as the 39th president lay in state ahead of his funeral Thursday in the nation's capital.
Carter was often the target of , and the president-elect has of the Georgia Democrat this week amid his state funeral rites for ceding control of the Panama Canal to its home country when he was president more than four decades ago.
Trump, who plans to attend Carter's funeral Thursday at Washington National Cathedral, played it straight on Capitol Hill, walking somberly into the rotunda with his wife, Melania, and pausing in front of Carter's flag-draped casket, which is resting atop the Lincoln catafalque and stands surrounded by a military honor guard.
Trump was on Capitol Hill to meet with Republican senators 12 days before he takes office for the second time. His visit to the rotunda briefly paused the steady stream of citizens who waited in long lines on Capitol Hill to file past Carter's remains.
Members of Congress, Hill staffers and former Speaker Kevin McCarthy were among the steady stream. Lynda Robb and Luci Baines Johnson, the daughters of President Lyndon Johnson paid their respects, as well. Luci Baines Johnson blew a kiss toward the casket as she walked away.
Carter, the longest-lived U.S. president, at the age of 100.
A U.S. Naval Academy graduate, submarine officer and peanut farmer before entering politics, Carter won the White House as an outsider in the wake of the Vietnam War and Watergate. He endured a rocky four years of economic unrest and international crises that ended with his defeat to Republican Ronald Reagan. But he also lived long enough to see historians reassess his presidency more charitably than voters did in 1980, and the national rites of a state funeral afford him a notable counter to the often testy relationship he had with Washington during his four years in the Oval Office.
鈥淧resident Carter was the governor of the great state of Georgia when I was born,鈥� said Lyn Leverett, among the people who waited in below-freezing weather Wednesday. 鈥淪o he鈥檚 been around my, you know, my whole entire being. And I just want to pay my respects to a decent person.鈥�
Some visitors fondly recalled personal connections to Carter's 1976 campaign, when his family, close friends and other supporters from Georgia formed the 鈥淧eanut Brigade鈥� to fan out across Iowa, New Hampshire and other key primary states and help Carter surprise the Washington establishment by winning the Democratic nomination.
鈥淚鈥檓 originally from Nashua, New Hampshire, and when I was a child, Jimmy Carter slept at my house,鈥� said Susan Prolman. 鈥淗e had just won the Iowa caucuses and he was in New Hampshire campaigning for the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire presidential primary. And I created this little poster for him, and he very kindly signed it.鈥�
Margaret Fitzpatrick, of Kensington, Maryland, recalled a family friend who had attended the Naval Academy with Carter in the 1940s and later hosted him as a presidential candidate. But she and others said what most drew them to the Capitol was what they remember of Carter once he left office 鈥� and the distinctions they see between Carter and Trump.
鈥淭he contrast is amazing,鈥� Fitzpatrick said, as she noted the juxtaposition of Carter's funeral with the obvious preparations around Washington for Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration. 鈥淚'm here to respect somebody who has built a reputation on honesty, character and integrity. President Carter was a decent, kind, genuine and gentle person.鈥�
Kim James, also a Maryland resident, said she had yet to start grade school when Carter was elected and thinks of him more as the white-haired former president who fought disease and advocated for democracy in the developing world and built homes for Habitat for Humanity in the U.S. and abroad.
鈥淗e cared about other people,鈥� she said, adding that political leaders today should work harder to replicate that example. 鈥淭hat selflessness 鈥� it always stood out.鈥�
Official ceremonies this week also have remembered Carter's , long public service and decades of humanitarian work beyond what he accomplished in politics. Vice President Kamala Harris, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune , when his remains first arrived in the rotunda.
Said Johnson in his tribute: 鈥淚n the face of illness, President Jimmy Carter brought lifesaving medicine. In the face of conflict, he brokered peace. In the face of discrimination, he reminded us that we are all made in the image of God. And if you were to ask him why he did it all, he would likely point to his faith.鈥�
Carter will remain at the Capitol until Thursday morning, when he is transported to Washington National Cathedral for a state funeral. President , a longtime Carter ally, . Other living former presidents, including Trump, are expected to attend.
After the funeral, the Boeing 747 that is Air Force One when a sitting president is aboard will carry Carter and his family back to Georgia. An invitation-only funeral will be held at Maranatha Baptist Church in tiny Plains, Georgia, where Carter for decades after leaving office.
Carter will be buried next to his wife, former first lady , in a plot near the home they built before his first state Senate campaign in 1962 and where they lived out their lives with the exception of four years in the Georgia Governor's Mansion and four years in the White House.
___ Associated Press journalist Jack Auresto contributed.
Bill Barrow, Kevin Freking, Farnhouse Amiri And Rick Gentilo, The Associated Press
