US President-elect Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he plans to attend the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter.
When Trump was asked about it while attending a New Year’s Eve party at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, he replied, “I’ll be there.” Asked if he had spoken to Carter’s family members, Trump said he would not like to say.
Funeral services in honor of Carter, who died Sunday at the age of 100, will be held in Georgia and Washington, beginning on Jan. 4 and ending on Jan. 9.
Trump was a frequent and fierce critic of Carter on the campaign trail before the November election, using rising inflation rates from the 1970s to compare President Joe Biden to Carter and his administration.
However, the president-elect was kind to the former president in a post on his social media sites following Carter’s death on Sunday, writing that the nation “owes him a debt of gratitude.”
Trump wrote of Carter, “While I strongly disagreed with him philosophically and politically, I also realized that he genuinely loved and respected our country.” “He worked hard to make America a better place, and for that I give him my highest respect.”
Entering the festivities, Trump wore a tuxedo and took a few minutes of questions from reporters on a variety of topics. He was asked about the possibility of a ceasefire in Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza, but he only said, “We’ll see what happens.”
“I would put it this way: They better get those hostages back quickly,” the president-elect said of the hostages captured by Hamas more than a year ago.
Trump also said he thinks 2025 will be a “great year” and “we’re going to do great as a country.”
“There is complete light not just in our country but all over the world. “They’re very happy people,” Trump said of recent weeks.
Asked about his New Year’s resolutions, Trump said, “I just want everybody to be happy, healthy and well.”
Trump later took the stage to briefly address the crowd celebrating New Year’s Day at Mar-a-Lago and promised to “do a great job as your president.”
For his part, Biden spent New Year’s Eve celebrating the wedding of his niece Missy Owens in Greenville, Delaware, followed by a reception in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Biden and first lady Jill Biden cut short their traditional holiday trip to the US Virgin Islands to attend the ceremony.