Jimmy Carter funeral live updates: Garth Brooks performs 39th president’s favorite song as Trump, Obama share a laugh ahead of service

Funeral services at the Washington National Cathedral have concluded.

The late president’s casket is being carried out of the cathedral in a hearse en route to Joint Base Andrews.

There will then be a private ceremony and burial in Plains, Georgia, his hometown.

See who performed at the funeral of the late 39th president on Thursday:

• The Armed Forces Chorus, the US Marine Corps Chamber Orchestra and the Cathedral Choir perform “Eternal Father, Strong to Save.”
• Phyllis Adams and Leila Bolden perform “Song Rise to Thee.”
• The US Marine Band performs “Amazing Grace”
• Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood perform “Imagine”.

All five living presidents and their partners attended former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral, except for one person: former First Lady Michelle Obama.

Carter’s life was celebrated at the National Cathedral on Thursday morning. However, the former first lady was notably absent despite all other former and current first ladies attending.

It is not entirely clear why the former first lady was absent. However, CNN Chief National Affairs Correspondent Jeff Zeleny reports that it was due to an extended vacation in Hawaii.

Katie Hawkinson has the full story.

President Biden offered heartfelt praise to his friend Jimmy Carter on Thursday morning.

After paying tribute to Carter’s character, the president said, “To young people, to all who seek meaning and purpose: study the power of Jimmy Carter’s example. I miss him, but take comfort in knowing that his beloved Rosalynn is reunited.”

Biden continued: “To the entire Carter family, thank you, and thank you sincerely, for sharing them with America and the world. We love you all. Jill and I will cherish our visits with them, including the last one at their home. We saw Jimmy as he always was, at peace with a fully lived life, a good life, purpose and sense of character, guided by destiny and filled with the power of faith, hope and love.”

President Joe Biden read a eulogy for the late president, whom he described as his friend.

Carter “came from a home without running water or electricity and rose to the top, to power,” Biden said.

Biden said Carter never let politics distract him from his principles: “Jimmy had character.”

The president said: “Therefore, the character I believe is destiny. Fate in our lives, and frankly, fate in the nation’s life. It is an accumulation of a million things built on character, leading to a good life and a decent country. A life of purpose, a life of meaning. How do we find that good life? What does it look like What does it take to build character? Do the ends justify the means?”

“Jimmy Carter’s friendship taught me, and his life taught me, that strength of character is more than the title or the power we have,” Biden continued.

Carter saw the future well, he said.

“A decorated Navy veteran who brokered peace. A brilliant nuclear engineer who led nuclear non-proliferation. A hard-working farmer who stood up for conservation and clean energy,” Biden said.

Carter also demonstrated a post-presidency model, making a profound difference in the U.S. and around the world, the president said.

“God bless you Jimmy Carter,” Biden concluded.

Jason Carter, the late president’s grandson, said his grandparents spent a lot of time demonstrating to others that they were “ordinary people.”

Their house was a good reminder: walls lined with photographs of grandchildren and great-grandchildren, filled with fishing trophies and an old corded telephone.

He once joked that the former president called Jason and didn’t get it: “I didn’t call you, I’m trying to take a picture.” The audience burst into laughter.

But he was far from ordinary, his grandson said.

“He had the courage and strength to stand by his principles even when they were politically unpopular,” Jason said.

He said Carter behaved the same in public and in private.

“I never noticed a difference in his public and private face. He was the same person no matter who he was with or where he was,” Jason said, calling it the definition of integrity.

“In the end, his life is a love story,” he said. It’s a love story between Jimmy and Rosalyn; In recent weeks, the former president told his family he was ready to see her again, Jason said.

His principles and his work as president and beyond were also based on love and respect, Jason said.

Stuart Eisenstat, former chief domestic policy adviser to President Jimmy Carter, said he was “as much a Renaissance man as any president to enter the Oval Office in modern times.”

Carter was a poet, author, creator of the Carter Center, fly fisherman, naval officer, president, husband and father, Eizenstat said.

“As we lay our 39th attendance to rest, it is time to redeem his presidency and also dispel the myth that his greatest achievement was only as a former president,” he said.

Carter “parked politics at the door of the Oval Office”, took on controversial challenges and did what he thought was right.

As president, he appointed more people of color and women to senior executive positions than any of the 38 presidents before him. He established the Department of Education and FEMA. He provided the first incentives for conservation and “opened the era of clean energy,” and even installed solar panels on the roof of the White House, Eizenstat said.

“He may not be a candidate for Mount Rushmore, but he belongs at the foot of it by making the US and the world safer,” Eizenstat concluded.