President Biden addressed the nation on Sunday in the wake of former President Jimmy Carter’s death, commending the late statesman while also taking a swipe at the current president-elect during his speech.
Biden, who sounded hoarse during the speech, said he “lost a dear friend” on Sunday, noting that he had known Carter for more than 50 years. Carter passed away in Plains, Georgia, at the age of 100, after nearly two years of being in hospice care.
During his remarks, Biden said Carter is a model “of what it means to live a life of meaning and purpose, a life of principle, faith and humility.”
“Some look at Jimmy Carter and see a man of a bygone era with honesty and character. Faith and humility mattered, but I don’t believe it’s a bygone era,” Biden said. “We’d all do well to try to be more like Jimmy Carter.”
Biden said his fondest memory of Carter happened in the 1970s when the then-Georgia governor asked Biden for help with his presidential campaign.
“He grabbed me by the arm and said, ‘I need you to help with my campaign,’” Biden recalled. “I said, ‘I’ve only been around a couple of years, Mr. Governor.’ He said, ‘No, it’ll make a difference.’”
“I said, ‘I’m not sure it will,” Biden added. “When I endorsed him for president, I told him why [I] was endorsing him and that it was not only his policies but his character, his decency, the honor he communicated to everyone.”
When a reporter asked Biden what President-elect Trump should take from Carter’s legacy, Biden replied, “Decency.”
“Decency, decency, decency. … Can you imagine Jimmy Carter walking by someone who needed something and just keep walking? Can you imagine Jimmy Carter referring to someone by the way they look or the way they talk?”
Biden’s speech came after Trump issued his own statement about Carter’s death.
“Those of us who have been fortunate to have served as President understand this is a very exclusive club, and only we can relate to the enormous responsibility of leading the Greatest Nation in History,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “The challenges Jimmy faced as President came at a pivotal time for our country and he did everything in his power to improve the lives of all Americans. For that, we all owe him a debt of gratitude.”
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Trump later wrote that although he “strongly” disagreed with Carter philosophically and politically, he realized that the former president “truly loved and respected” the U.S. and all it stands for.
“He worked hard to make America a better place, and for that I give him my highest respect,” Trump said. “He was truly a good man and, of course, will be greatly missed. He was also very consequential, far more than most Presidents, after he left the Oval Office.”
Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
