Jimmy Carter eulogized by Kamala Harris and others as 39th president returns to Washington
Associated PressWASHINGTON — Nearly 44 years after Jimmy Carter left the nation’s capital in humbling defeat, the 39th president returned to Washington on Tuesday for state funeral rites that featured the kind of bipartisan praise and ceremonial pomp the Georgia Democrat rarely enjoyed at his political peak. As the sun set outside the Capitol, Vice President Kamala Harris, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune — none of whom were old enough to vote in Carter’s first national campaign — celebrated his faith, military service and devotion to service more than anything he did in politics. But she described him nonetheless as “that all-too-rare example of a gifted man who also walks with humility, modesty and grace.” As a presidential candidate in 1976, Harris noted, he slept in the homes of his supporters to “share a meal with them at their table and listen to what was on their minds.” Thune, the newly elected majority leader, ticked through Carter’s legacy beyond the White House, including his hands-on contributions to rebuilding homes through Habitat For Humanity. He thought giving away the Panama Canal was a good thing.” “I didn’t want to bring up the Panama Canal because of Jimmy Carter’s death,” Trump added, though he had first mentioned it unprompted.