Bidens, Clintons arrive at church ahead of Rosalynn Carter tribute serviceReporters traveling with Joe Biden say the president and first lady have arrived at Glenn Memorial church in Atlanta ahead of the tribute service for Rosalynn Carter.
Traveling with them are a number of current and former elected officials, including Bill and Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, and Georgia’s two Democratic senators, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. Jimmy Carter is also expected to attend, though is not reported to be traveling with the president, as is former first lady Melania Trump.
As guests are filing in, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra is running through some of Rosalynn Carter’s favorite songs, including compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach.
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The hearse has pulled up to the steps of the church and the military guard is marching forward to lift the coffin and take it in to the service.
Rosalynn Carter’s flower-decorated coffin is now being carried. The political leaders past and present are now in the church. More details shortly.
Joanna Walters
Brian Kemp, the governor of Georgia, a Republican, has just entered the church and taken a pew.
Georgia’s Democratic US Senators, Raphael Warnock and John Ossoff have also entered and found a seat.
We await the biggest names of the day. It’s a brilliantly sunny day with a cloudless, bright blue sky above the church on the campus of Emory University in Atlanta.
Joe Biden and the first lady, Jill Biden, arrive at Dobbins air reserve base in Marietta, Georgia. Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/ReutersThings are clearly running a little behind schedule before the start of the memorial service for Rosalynn Carter.
It’s due to start at 1pm ET but there are still at least five rows at the front of the church in Atlanta empty and clearly waiting for their VIP occupants.
The congregation that’s there so far was just treated to some Elgar from the orchestra and now something of a hush has descended upon the church, apart from a bit of hold music. We await the arrival of the courtege.
The day so farGuests are filing in to the Glenn Memorial church in Atlanta for the tribute service to former first lady Rosalynn Carter. Her husband Jimmy Carter will attend, as will Joe and Jill Biden, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, Melania Trump and Georgia’s two Democratic senators, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. None of the group is scheduled to speak at the event, which will instead feature eulogies from Carter family members and people who knew the former first lady. Back in Washington DC, House Democrats are expected to propose a resolution to expel fraudster George Santos from the chamber that must be brought up for consideration within two days. We’ll be watching for signs of if the resolution has the support to pass.
Here’s what else has been happening today:
Nikki Haley received the endorsement of Koch-affiliated Super Pac Americans for Prosperity Action, in a potential boost for her quest to overtake Donald Trump in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.
Santos insists he will not resign, while the House resolution to expel him needs two-thirds majority support to pass.
Trump and Santos aren’t so different, a biographer of the New York congressman says.
Bidens, Clintons arrive at church ahead of Rosalynn Carter tribute serviceReporters traveling with Joe Biden say the president and first lady have arrived at Glenn Memorial church in Atlanta ahead of the tribute service for Rosalynn Carter.
Traveling with them are a number of current and former elected officials, including Bill and Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, and Georgia’s two Democratic senators, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. Jimmy Carter is also expected to attend, though is not reported to be traveling with the president, as is former first lady Melania Trump.
As guests are filing in, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra is running through some of Rosalynn Carter’s favorite songs, including compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach.
In Atlanta, guests are arriving for this afternoon’s tribute service to former first lady Rosalynn Carter. Here are some photos ahead of the event, which begins at 1pm:
Members of the armed forces carry the casket of former first lady Rosalynn Carter from the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta. Photograph: Erik S Lesser/APJoe and Jill Biden arrive at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta, Georgie ahead of the tribute service. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/APFormer president Bill Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton at Dobbins Air Reserve Base today in Marietta, Georgia. Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/ReutersWhile Super Pac AFP Action’s endorsement of Nikki Haley may represent a boost to her presidential campaign, all signs point to the former United Nations ambassador facing a steep hill to climb to catch up to Donald Trump’s lead among Republican voters.
Polls consistently show him as the far-and-away favorite for the GOP’s nomination, with Haley and Florida governor Ron DeSantis vying for a distant second place. Nonetheless, Karoline Leavitt, spokeswoman for Trump-supporting Super Pac Make America Great Again Inc, released a statement slamming AFP Action’s endorsement:
The Ron DeSantis campaign finally got it right when they bitterly attacked Americans for Prosperity for being a vessel of globalist shills. That’s exactly why AFP backed Ron Desantis in his 2018 and 2022 gubernatorial races.
Everything old is new again. The Republican primary is split between career politicians who are tools of the billionaire class and the one man who delivers for the American people. Americans for Prosperity has already lit millions of dollars on fire this primary only to watch President Donald Trump’s lead grow. No amount of money can break the bond President Trump has with voters. He kept his promises.
As the House gears up to vote on expelling him, George Santos said yesterday he has no plans to resign:
Setting the record straight, My conversation with the speaker was positive and I told him id be standing for the expulsion vote.
Expel me and set the precedent so we can see who the judge, jury and executioners in Congress are.
The American people deserve to know! t.co/vWhQyFWn0O
— George Santos (@MrSantosNY) November 27, 2023 Republican House speaker Mike Johnson told reporters he had discussed his “options” with Santos, potentially a sign that he had encouraged him to leave office voluntarily. While the House rejected an attempt to expel Santos earlier this month, many Congress watchers believe lawmakers are ready to give him the boot after the release of the ethics committee report into his conduct.
With George Santos’s position in Congress as tenuous as ever, the Guardian’s David Smith spoke to his biographer, who likened the New York Republican to another well-known politician from the Empire state:
“I always thought it would be better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody.” So says Matt Damon in the title role of The Talented Mr Ripley, the Oscar-winning film from 1999. The line would make a fitting political epitaph for George Santos, the New York Republican facing imminent expulsion from Congress after a scathing House ethics committee report cited “overwhelming evidence” of lawbreaking.
Santos, 35, also faces federal charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, false statements, falsification of records, aggravated identity theft and credit card fraud, in a 23-count indictment in his home state. If convicted, he is likely to spend years in prison.
“This story is a tragedy,” says Mark Chiusano, author of The Fabulist: The Lying, Hustling, Grifting, Stealing, and Very American Legend of George Santos, a book published this week. “He is someone who is clearly very ambitious and wants to live a kind of wealthy life, a life of fame and notoriety, and he is trying to attain essentially a version of the American dream, which so many people have sought over the years.
“The sad thing is that he realises pretty early on that he’s not going to get there, he’s not going to be able to make a ton of money on Wall Street, he’s not going to be as famous as The Real Housewives, for example. Because of the difficulty and grittiness of the usual road to the American dream, he decides to go a different route.
“He starts making everything up, rather than [be like] members of his family who just kept their heads down and worked hard and tried to build a life. He tries to take this shortcut and the shortcut eventually catches up with him and it’s a real tragedy. He has no one to blame but himself but he is in a very difficult place now.”
House Democrats will move to expel Santos this afternoonDemocratic congressman Robert Garcia will introduce a resolution to expel George Santos from office when the House of Representatives convenes at 2pm, his office confirms.
Garcia of California will introduce a privileged resolution that is co-sponsored by New York Democrat Dan Goldman, which per the chamber’s rules must be considered within two legislative days. The resolution would require a two-thirds majority vote of the chamber to pass.
Santos, a freshman congressman from New York, has admitted to lying about many of his qualifications while campaigning for office, and is facing a slew of federal fraud-related charges. Earlier this month, the House ethics committee found he committed “grave and pervasive campaign finance violations and fraudulent activity”, prompting Santos to announce he would not stand for a second term.
Nikki Haley’s campaign has called the endorsement of AFP Action – a Super Pac founded by the conservative Koch Brothers – a sign of “huge grassroots” support.
“I’m honored to have the support of Americans for Prosperity Action, including its millions of grassroots members all across the country,” Haley told the New York Times.
“AFP Action’s members know that there is too much at stake in this election to sit on the sidelines. This is a choice between freedom and socialism, individual liberty and big government, fiscal responsibility and spiraling debt. We have a country to save, and I’m grateful to have AFP Action by our side.”
Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity endorses Nikki Haley for presidentRepublican presidential candidate and former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley in New Hampshire on 20 November. Photograph: Brian Snyder/ReutersFormer United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley’s campaign for the Republican presidential nomination has received a boost from the Koch-affiliated Americans for Prosperity Action, which announced today it would endorse her campaign.
The decision by the Super Pac, which was founded by conservative billionaire Charles Koch and his late brother David Koch, means millions of dollars will go towards Haley’s campaign to beat out GOP frontrunner Donald Trump for the party’s nomination and triumph over Joe Biden in next year’s election.
“As many of you know, AFP Action has never engaged in a presidential election before, but … to write a new chapter for our country, we need to turn the page on the past. Donald Trump and Joe Biden will only further perpetuate the country’s downward spiral in politics. Furthermore, a significant majority of voters want somebody new. The American people have shown they’re ready to move on from the current political era, so AFP Action will help them do that,” the Super Pac said as it announced its endorsement.
“At the outset of our strategy, we made clear that we would be business-like in our decision. We would support a candidate capable of turning the page on Washington’s toxic culture – and a candidate who can win. And last night, we concluded that analysis. That candidate is Nikki Haley.”
The Koch family earlier this year announced it would turn away from supporting Trump and towards candidates it viewed as more electable, though that didn’t stop AFP Action from courting lawmakers who supported the former president’s attempt to overturn his election loss:
Joe and Jill Biden have left the White House on this chilly Tuesday to attend Rosalynn Carter’s tribute service in Atlanta:
The Bidens walk to board Marine One at the White House. Photograph: Evan Vucci/APJoe and Jill Biden at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, where they boarded Air Force One. Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/ReutersHere’s more from the Associated Press on the life of Rosalynn Carter, a former first lady who was viewed as a political enforcer of her husband during his four years in office, and later became one of the country’s best known advocates for mental health:
The Washington chattering class, often unsure what to make of outsiders, dubbed Rosalynn Carter the “Steel Magnolia” when she arrived as first lady.
A devout Baptist and mother of four, she was diminutive and outwardly shy, with a soft smile and softer Southern accent. That was the “magnolia”. She also was a force behind Jimmy Carter’s rise from peanut farmer to winner of the 1976 presidential election. That was the “steel”.
Yet that obvious, even trite moniker almost certainly undersold her role and impact across the Carters’ early life, their one White House term and their four decades afterward as global humanitarians advocating peace, democracy and the eradication of disease.
Through more than 77 years of marriage, until her death on Sunday at the age of 96, Rosalynn Carter was business and political partner, best friend and closest confidant to the 39th president. A Georgia Democrat like her husband, she became in her own right a leading advocate for people with mental health conditions and family caregivers in American life, and she joined the former president as co-founder of the Carter Center, where they set a new standard for what first couples can accomplish after yielding power.
“She was always eager to help his agenda, but she knew what she wanted to accomplish,” said Kathy Cade, a White House adviser to the first lady and later a Carter Center board member.
Carter aides and friends to give tribute at service, family to read scriptureToday’s tribute service for Rosalynn Carter will be held at the Glenn Memorial United Methodist church on the campus of Atlanta’s Emory University beginning at 1pm eastern time, the Carter Center announced.
Tributes to the former first lady will be delivered by Judy Woodruff, a journalist, Kathryn Cade, a friend and longtime aide, and Jason Carter, her grandson. Another grandson and three of Rosalynn Carter’s great-grandchildren are expected to read scripture.
While Joe and Jill Biden, Kamala Harris and Douglas Emhoff will attend, none of them are scheduled to speak. Other notable guests include Melania Trump, Michelle Obama, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Georgia governor Brian Kemp and his wife, Marty Kemp.
The Carter Center is calling today’s event a departure ceremony and tribute service, which will be followed by a funeral tomorrow in the Carter’s home town of Plains, Georgia.
Biden, Harris expected in Georgia for Rosalynn Carter memorialGood morning, US politics blog readers. Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and their spouses are today set to attend a tribute service for former first lady Rosalynn Carter in Atlanta, who died on Sunday at the age of 96. A noted advocate for people with mental health conditions and family caregivers, she is survived by her husband, Jimmy Carter, the former president who is expected to attend the ceremony, along with Bill and Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama and Melania Trump. The service starts at 1pm eastern time.
Many of the guests will be escaping from a Washington DC that is slowly getting back to work after the Thanksgiving holiday, and among the business that we may see developments in today is the saga of George Santos. Earlier this month, the Republican chair of the House ethics committee Michael Guest introduced a resolution to expel him from office after the release of a damning report into his conduct. Today, the House is expected to start a two-day clock to vote on the resolution, which may lead to Santos – who has admitted to lying about much of his resume and is facing federal fraud charges – being booted out of office.
Here’s what else is going on today:
Mike Pence reportedly spoke with lawyers for the special prosecutor investigating Donald Trump over the January 6 insurrection, and said the former president almost caused a “constitutional crisis”.
Yet another Republican does not think impeaching Biden is a good idea.
Two House Democrats have proposed a resolution in opposition to a proposal from a Republican congressman to expel some Palestinians from the country.