Closing summary
Mourners including Joe and Jill Biden, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, Melania Trump and Georgia’s two Democratic senators, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock paid tribute to former first lady Rosalynn Carter at a ceremony in Atlanta. Back in Washington DC, House Democrats called up a resolution to expel fraudster George Santos from the chamber that must be voted on within two days, while the chamber’s Republican leaders are reportedly considering holding a vote on a separate resolution Thursday.
Here’s what else has been happening today:
Jimmy Carter was in attendance at the memorial service in Atlanta. The 99-year-old former president has been receiving hospice care since February.
Amy Carter spoke about her parents’ love for each other, and read from a letter her father wrote to Rosalynn while he was serving in the navy.
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.
Back in Congress, Punchbowl News reports that the House’s Republican leadership is considering taking up GOP lawmaker Michael Guest’s resolution to expel George Santos on Thursday:
NEW -- House Republican sources tell me they may wait until THURSDAY to ask for a vote on MICHAEL GUEST'S resolution to expel George Santos.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) November 28, 2023
SOME in the GOP leadership seem to want to give Santos one last chance to resign Thurs. at his news conference -- although he says he…
Passing Guest’s resolution would make the separate motion proposed by Democrat Robert Garcia moot. It remains to be seen if either proposal has the two-thirds majority support necessary to pass.
Here are a few photos as the tribute to Rosalynn Carter wrapped up in Atlanta:
Pallbearers have loaded Rosalynn Carter’s casket into a hearse, which is now departing the tribute ceremony.
Her funeral is scheduled for tomorrow in Plains, Georgia, the Carters’s hometown. That ceremony and her burial at the family residence are restricted to family and friends, according to the Carter Center.
The tribute to Rosalynn Carter is nearing its conclusion in Atlanta.
The closing benediction was given by Tony Lowden, a pastor at the church the Carters attended in Plains, Georgia, who made a point to acknowledge the work of the Secret Service agents who guarded the former president and his family during his time in office, and in the decades since:
Oftentimes, Mr. President, we don’t acknowledge those who keep us safe. Rosalynn Carter is in heaven, and she did the work of the Lord and the kingdom all around the world. And Don and all the directors for 46 years got her and her family home safe. And I say thank each and every one of you, those that are standing post and those that are listening on the radios right now. Thank you and she loves you and a nothing you can do about it.
Grandson Jason pays tribute to Rosalynn Carter's work to fight Guinea worm disease
Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter’s grandson Jason, a former Georgia state senator, spoke about his grandmother’s work fighting Guinea worm disease, as well as advocating for better mental health care.
“Her advocacy for mental health was a 50-year climb that is as remarkable as any other and has been mentioned already. But if you imagine just how far our society has come in the last five years on issues of mental health, and you think that she decided in 1970 to tackle the anxious and stigma associated with mental illness, it is remarkable how far she could see and how far she was willing to walk,” Carter said. “And that effort changed lives and it saved lives, including in my own family. She was made for these long journeys.”
Jason Carter continued:
John Lewis once said that in all of his marches, he only really learned one thing: Don’t let them turn you around. That was my grandmother to a tee. One of my last memories of her was in a hospital. We were there for my grandfather, but she had her own physical limitations that made it hard for her to walk. She had to practice. She was ready to go for one of these walks and she picked up this cane and I looked at the cane. She looked at me and she said, ‘you know it’s not a cane … it’s a trekking pole’ She said, ‘the exact same kind that those women use when they go to the South Pole.’
I watched her walk down that hall with that trekking pole. I followed her and I just pray that we never lose sight of that path.
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Amy Carter speaks about parents' love for each other
Back in Georgia, Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter’s daughter Amy Carter spoke about the importance of love in their relationship:
“My mom spent most of her life in love with my dad,” she said. “Their partnership and love story was a defining feature of her life. Because he is unable to speak to you today, I’m going to share some of his words about loving and missing. This is from a letter he wrote 75 years ago while he was serving in the navy”:
My darling, every time I have ever been away from you, I had been thrilled when I returned to discover just how wonderful you are. While I’m away I tried to convince myself that you really are not could not be as sweet and beautiful as I remember. But when I see you I fall in love with you all over again. Does that seem strange to you? It doesn’t to me. Goodbye darling. Until tomorrow, Jimmy.
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House Democrats call up George Santos expulsion resolution, force vote within 48 hours
Two House Democratic lawmakers have moved to force a vote within 48 hours on a resolution to expel Republican congressman and admitted fabulist George Santos from the chamber.
California’s Robert Garcia introduced the resolution earlier this year, and together with New York’s Dan Goldman have called it up as a privileged resolution, meaning it must be voted on within the next two days. While it will need a two-thirds majority vote of the chamber to pass, momentum to oust Santos has increased in the past weeks following the release of an ethics committee report that found “grave and pervasive campaign finance violations and fraudulent activity” by the New York Republican.
“The time has finally come to remove George Santos from Congress. If we’re going to restore faith in government, we must start with restoring integrity in the U.S. House of Representatives,” Garcia said in a statement.
Added Goldman: “George Santos is an admitted liar, fraud, and cheat, and the recent Ethics Committee report confirms what we’ve long known: George Santos is wholly unfit for public office.”
Jimmy Carter attends wife's memorial service
Former president Jimmy Carter was in attendance at the tribute service for his wife, Rosalynn Carter:
Carter turned 99 in October, and has been in hospice in his home town of Plains, Georgia, since February.
Here’s the moment he arrived at the church for the ceremony:
Former President Jimmy Carter, who is 99 and has been in hospice care since February, arrives for his wife Rosalynn Carter’s memorial service in Atlanta. pic.twitter.com/1iBtfnchgS
— The Recount (@therecount) November 28, 2023
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Son James 'Chip' Carter pays tribute to mother, saying: 'She saved my life'
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter’s son, James “Chip” Carter is speaking now at his mother’s memorial service.
He called Rosalynn the glue that held the family together “through the ups and downs and thicks and thins” of family life and politics.
Chip Carter, 73, recalled that when he was 14 he used to get beaten up for wearing a sticker supporting Lyndon Johnson for president.
But he said his mother would mend his shirt torn in the fight and replace the sticker for him, as he supported the Democratic party cause.
He also said that Rosalynn Carter “was influential in getting me into rehab for drug and alcohol addiction. She saved my life.”
He called Jimmy Carter’s loss in the 1980 election to the Republican ticket of Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush “devastating to us all.”
Chip Carter just mentioned that his mother was “racked with dementia” prior to her death last month.
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The memorial service for first lady Rosalynn Carter is now under way, with the call to worship and invocation.
The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chamber Chorus just gave the patient congregation a stirring rendition of America the Beautiful, as Carter’s casket entered the church.
The setting is the Glenn Memorial United Methodist church on the campus of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.
The sunlight is streaming through the windows and illuminating many on the left-hand side of the congregation.
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The front row in the church is now occupied with the leadership names of the day.
Jimmy Carter, 99, has just entered, semi-recumbent on a sort of wheeled chair-bed. He is at one end of the row. Joe Biden is close by with, to the president’s right, Jill Biden, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, Michelle Obama and Melania Trump.
The choir is now singing America the Beautiful, as Rosalynn Carter’s casket has been brought in and placed at the front of the church.
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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.
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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.
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Things 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 cortege.
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The day so far
Guests 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.
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Bidens, Clintons arrive at church ahead of Rosalynn Carter tribute service
Reporters 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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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:
While 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.
— George Santos (@MrSantosNY) November 27, 2023
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! https://t.co/vWhQyFWn0O
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.”
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House Democrats will move to expel Santos this afternoon
Democratic 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 president
Former 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:
Here’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 scripture
Today’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.
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Biden, Harris expected in Georgia for Rosalynn Carter memorial
Good 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.
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