NEW YORK (AP) — After his only child was killed on 9/11, Ken Fairben looked for justice in a far-off military courtroom on the Guantánamo Bay naval base in Cuba.
He traveled there multiple times to observe hearings for accused Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and co-defendants, and Fairben has watched other proceedings via closed-circuit video at a military facility near his Long Island home.
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FILE - This Monday, Dec. 8, 2008 courtroom drawing by artist Janet Hamlin and reviewed by the U.S. military, shows Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, center, and co-defendant Walid Bin Attash, left, attending a pre-trial session at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. (AP Photo/Janet Hamlin, Pool, File)
FILE - US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin makes a speech at Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
FILE - In this photo reviewed by U.S. military officials, flags fly at half-staff at Camp Justice, Aug. 29, 2021, in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
FILE - In this April 17, 2019, photo, reviewed by U.S. military officials, the control tower is seen through the razor wire inside the Camp VI detention facility in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
FILE - This Monday, Dec. 8, 2008 courtroom drawing by artist Janet Hamlin and reviewed by the U.S. military, shows Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, center, and co-defendant Walid Bin Attash, left, attending a pre-trial session at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. (AP Photo/Janet Hamlin, Pool, File)
FILE - Ken Fairben holds a photo showing his son Keith, left, a victim of the Sept, 11, attacks, as he talks with reporters Oct. 15, 2012, outside Fort Hamilton Army base in Brooklyn, N.Y. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)
He has gotten to know other victims’ families on these journeys and taken pained note of the plaque on a wall of a Guantanamo trailer where relatives take court breaks. The sign bears the names of several loved ones who have died while the case has ground on.
After nearly two decades of turns, delays and emotionally exhausting flux, Fairben and his wife, Diane, now will have to wait longer to see whether Mohammed pleads guilty in the al-Qaida hijacked-plane attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The attacks killed nearly 3,000 people, including paramedic Keith Fairben, at New York's World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field.
Mohammed had been scheduled to enter his plea Friday, but an appeals court Thursday temporarily blocked the plea deals for him and two co-defendants. The federal government had negotiated but then disavowed the deals, while defense lawyers want the plan to go forward. So does Ken Fairben, who had planned to be at a Long Island military site Friday to watch.
“I, honest to God, thought that we were going to have some — I don’t like ‘closure’ — but some forward motion, something definite," he said after hearing the news.
“It’s just so frustrating. It’s absolutely heartbreaking," added Fairben, who emphasized that he speaks only for himself.
Among Sept. 11 survivors and victims' relatives, the potential end to the drawn-out, fraught case stirred a range of feelings: uncertainty, hope, anger, gratification, resignation and a thirst for more answers about how the attacks were arranged and financed.
Some families are dismayed by the plea agreements. They would take death sentences off the table and short-circuit the possibility of a trial — a prospect that's particularly upsetting to those who see a trial as a key source of information.
“Doesn’t the American public, as well as the victims’ families, deserve to hear the evidence we have against these individuals?” asks Gordon Haberman, who has traveled to multiple Guantanamo hearings from his Wisconsin home but finds travel physically difficult now. His daughter, Andrea, was in New York for a business trip when she died in the World Trade Center attack.
Congressional intelligence committees and, later, an independent, bipartisan commission, investigated the attacks and released findings in the early 2000s. In recent years, a secret chapter of the congressional inquiry and some FBI documents have been declassified and released.
Some survivors and victims' relatives believe a Guantanamo trial could shake loose more information, particularly about whether the Saudi Arabian government backed the hijackers.
That's the question at the heart of a lawsuit some families are pursuing in a federal court in New York. The kingdom denies involvement, and information the U.S. has released doesn’t provide proof that senior Saudi officials were complicit.
Brett Eagleson, a son of Sept. 11 victim John Bruce Eagleson, sees the potential Guantanamo plea deals as a betrayal and part of a “long and epic trail of failure” by the U.S. government to provide evidence to 9/11 families who are pursuing the Saudi claims.
The pleas would be “a sad day for America," said Eagleson, who's a plaintiff in the lawsuit and the president of a victims’ and survivors’ advocacy group called 9/11 Justice. He was a teenager when his father, a Connecticut mall manager who went by Bruce, was killed while at the World Trade Center on business.
Any potential trial before a military commission at Guantanamo would likely be complicated by the torture of the defendants while in CIA custody in the first years after they were apprehended. The pretrial hearings have focused largely on how the abuse may taint the overall evidence in the case.
To Eagleson, it's infuriating that the issue has affected the viability of a trial. What happened to the defendants in custody isn't 9/11 victims' fault, he said.
Before the court put the plea deals on hold, Elizabeth Miller drove 5 1/2 hours in a looming winter storm to catch a military flight to Guantanamo in hopes of seeing Mohammed's plea in person.
After several previous journeys to the arid, isolated military base to see him and other aging defendants sit through one pretrial hearing after another, she came to expect dysfunction and disappointment from the military commission. But she was excited to make the trip this time — and then crestfallen when the plea deals were halted.
“I really, truly believe this is the only way this will ever end," Miller said by phone from Guantanamo. She was 6 when the 9/11 attacks killed her firefighter father, Douglas Miller.
She now leads a group of 9/11 families who support the plea deal and oppose any death penalty for the accused, and she noted that evidence would be presented during the sentencing phase.
Robert Reeg, a now-retired firefighter who was seriously wounded responding to 9/11, went over the years to Guantanamo to watch a pretrial hearing and to Washington to talk to lawmakers about the slow pace of the case. He wants to see it go to trial and views the prospective plea deals as “surrender.”
"These enemies think we’re weak and irresolute, and this kind of proves it,” he said.
Even before the plea deal was temporarily blocked, he didn't plan to follow the news from Guantanamo moment to moment. He said he was too busy caring for his toddler granddaughter, and “I’ve had enough salt in my wounds.”
“At a certain point in time, you just have to be resigned,” he said. “All you can do is give your best effort, and I did. And I can live with that.”
Associated Press writer Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington contributed.
FILE - US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin makes a speech at Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
FILE - In this photo reviewed by U.S. military officials, flags fly at half-staff at Camp Justice, Aug. 29, 2021, in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
FILE - In this April 17, 2019, photo, reviewed by U.S. military officials, the control tower is seen through the razor wire inside the Camp VI detention facility in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
FILE - This Monday, Dec. 8, 2008 courtroom drawing by artist Janet Hamlin and reviewed by the U.S. military, shows Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, center, and co-defendant Walid Bin Attash, left, attending a pre-trial session at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. (AP Photo/Janet Hamlin, Pool, File)
FILE - Ken Fairben holds a photo showing his son Keith, left, a victim of the Sept, 11, attacks, as he talks with reporters Oct. 15, 2012, outside Fort Hamilton Army base in Brooklyn, N.Y. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Jimmy Carter was celebrated Thursday for his personal humility and public service before, during and after his presidency in a funeral at Washington National Cathedral featuring the kind of pageantry the 39th U.S. president typically eschewed. It was followed by an intimate hometown funeral near where he was born a century ago.
All of Carter's living successors attended in Washington, with President Joe Biden, who was the first sitting senator to endorse his 1976 run for the White House, eulogizing his longtime friend. Biden and others took turns in the morning praising Carter's record — which many historians have appraised more favorably since he lost his bid for a second term in 1980 — and extolling his character.
The dual ceremonies in Washington and Plains, Georgia, provided a moment of national comity in a notably partisan era and offered a striking portrait of a president who was once judged a political failure, only for his life ultimately to be recognized as having lasting national and global impact.
“He built houses for people who needed homes,” said Joshua Carter, a grandson who recalled how Carter regularly taught Sunday school in Plains after leaving the White House. “He eliminated diseases in forgotten places. He waged peace anywhere in the world, wherever he saw a chance. He loved people.”
Jason Carter, another grandson, wryly noted his grandparents' frugality, such as washing and reusing Ziploc bags, and his grandfather's struggles with his cellphone.
“They were small-town people who never forgot who they were and where they were from, no matter what happened in their lives,” said Jason, who chairs the Carter Center, a global humanitarian operation founded by Jimmy and his late wife, Rosalynn Carter.
At the national service, former President Barack Obama and President-elect Donald Trump, who have mocked each other for years going back to Trump fanning conspiracy theories about Obama's citizenship, sat next to each other and talked for several minutes, even sharing a laugh.
As Trump went to his seat, he shook hands with Mike Pence in a rare interaction with his former vice president. The two split over Pence’s refusal to help Trump overturn his election defeat to Biden four years ago. Karen Pence, the former second lady, did not rise from her chair when her husband did so to greet Trump.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost to Trump in November, entered afterward and was not seen interacting with him. Former first lady Michelle Obama did not attend.
All politics were not left outside the cathedral, though. Biden, who leaves office in 11 days, repeated several times that “character” was Carter's chief attribute. Biden said Carter taught him that “everyone should be treated with dignity and respect.”
“We have an obligation to give hate no safe harbor,” Biden said, also noting the importance of standing up to “abuse in power.” Those comments echoed Biden's typical criticisms of Trump.
In Plains, Carter's personal pastor, Tony Lowden, touched on the political as well, saying Carter was “still teaching us a lesson” with the timing of his death as a new Congress begins its work and Trump prepares for a second administration. Lowden, who did not name Trump or others, urged the nation to follow Carter's example: “not self, but country.”
“Don’t let his legacy die. Don’t let this nation die,” Lowden said. “Let faith and hope be our guardrails.”
Carter died Dec. 29 at age 100, living so long that two of Thursday's eulogies were written by people who died before him — his vice president, Walter Mondale, and his presidential predecessor, Gerald Ford.
“By fate of a brief season, Jimmy Carter and I were rivals,” Ford said in his eulogy, which was read by his son Steven. “But for the many wonderful years that followed, friendship bonded us as no two presidents since John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.”
Carter defeated Ford in 1976, but the presidents and their wives became close friends, and Carter eulogized Ford at his own funeral.
Days of formal ceremonies and remembrances from political leaders, business titans and rank-and-file citizens have honored Carter for his decency and using a prodigious work ethic to do more than obtain political power.
Proceedings began Thursday morning as military service members carried Carter’s flag-draped casket down the east steps of the U.S. Capitol, where the former president had been lying in state since Tuesday. There was also a 21-gun salute.
At the cathedral, the Armed Forces Chorus sang the hymn “Be Still My Soul” before Carter’s casket was brought inside.
Mourners also heard from 92-year-old Andrew Young, a former Atlanta mayor, congressman and U.N. ambassador during the Carter administration. Carter outlived much of his Cabinet and inner circle but remained especially close to Young — a friendship that brought together a white Georgian and Black Georgian who grew up in the era of Jim Crow segregation.
“Jimmy Carter was a blessing that helped create a great United States of America,” Young said.
“Hail to the Chief” was performed by military bands multiple times as Carter's casket arrived and departed various points. Carter once tried to stop the traditional standard from being played for him when he was president, seeing it as an unnecessary flourish.
Thursday concluded six days of national rites that began in Plains, where Carter, a former Naval officer, engineer and peanut farmer, was born in 1924, lived most of his life and died after 22 months in hospice care.
After the morning service, Carter’s remains, his four children and extended family returned to Georgia on a Boeing 747 that serves as Air Force One when the sitting president is aboard.
An outspoken Baptist who campaigned as a born-again Christian, Carter received his second service at Maranatha Baptist Church, the small edifice where he taught Sunday school for decades. His casket sat beneath a wooden cross he fashioned in his own woodshop.
Following a final ride through his hometown, past the old train depot that served as his 1976 campaign headquarters, Carter was interred on family land in a plot next to Rosalynn, who died in 2023.
Carter, who won the presidency promising good government and honest talk for an electorate disillusioned by the Vietnam War and Watergate, signed significant legislation and negotiated a landmark peace agreement between Israel and Egypt. But he also presided over inflation, rising interest rates and international crises — most notably the Iran hostage situation, in which Americans were held in Tehran for more than a year. Carter lost in a landslide to Republican Ronald Reagan in 1980.
Former White House aide Stu Eizenstat used his eulogy to reframe the Carter presidency as more successful than voters appreciated at the time.
He noted that Carter deregulated U.S. transportation industries, streamlined energy research and created the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He emphasized that Carter’s administration secured the release of the hostages in Iran, though they were not freed until after Reagan took office.
“He may not be a candidate for Mount Rushmore,” Eizenstat said. “But he belongs in the foothills.”
Associated Press writers Charlotte Kramon in Plains, Georgia; and Jeff Amy and Kate Brumback in Atlanta contributed to this report.
The flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter is carried to a hearse after a funeral service at Maranatha Baptist Church, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Plains, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
The flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter is carried to a hearse after a funeral service at Maranatha Baptist Church, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Plains, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
A joint services body bearer team carries the casket after the funeral service for former President Jimmy Carter at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga., Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. Carter died Dec. 29 at the age of 100. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
The casket of former President Jimmy Carter enters Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga., Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, for a funeral service. Carter died Dec. 29 at the age of 100. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornets perform a fly-over as as the casket of former President Jimmy Carter, bottom right, arrives at Maranatha Baptist Church for a funeral service, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Plains, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
People watch as the hearse containing the flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter passes through downtown Plains, Ga., toward Maranatha Baptist Church for a funeral service Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
The casket of former President Jimmy Carter enters Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga., Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, for a funeral service. Carter died Dec. 29 at the age of 100. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
Pastor Tony Lowden speaks during the funeral service for former President Jimmy Carter at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga., Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. Carter died Dec. 29 at the age of 100. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornets perform a fly-over as as the casket of former President Jimmy Carter, bottom right, arrives at Maranatha Baptist Church for a funeral service, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Plains, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
An honor guard and honor guard band march before the casket of former President Jimmy Carter arrives at Maranatha Baptist Church for a funeral service, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Plains, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
People watch as the hearse containing the flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter passes through downtown Plains, Ga., toward Maranatha Baptist Church for a funeral service Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
The hearse containing the flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter travels in the motorcade from Lawson Army Airfield, in Fort Moore, Ga., to Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga., Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
The flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter carried by a joint services body bearer team from Special Air Mission 39 at Lawson Army Airfield, in Fort Moore, Ga., Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
Grandson Jason Carter, speaks during the state funeral for former President Jimmy Carter at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
The casket of former President Jimmy Carter arrives for a state funeral at the National Cathedral, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Washington. (Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times via AP, Pool)
A joint services military body bearer team carries the flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter from the U.S. Capitol on the way to a state funeral at the National Cathedral in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Front row, from left, President Joe Biden, first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff and second row from left, former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former President George W. Bush, Laura Bush, former President Barack Obama, President-elect Donald Trump and Melania Trump, stand during the state funeral for former President Jimmy Carter at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
The flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter is carried into Maranatha Baptist Church for a funeral service, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Plains, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
President Joe Biden touches the casket of former President Jimmy Carter after delivering remarks during Carter's state funeral at the National Cathedral, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Washington. (Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times via AP, Pool)
Jack Carter, right, and his wife Liz react during the state funeral of former President Jimmy Carter at the National Cathedral, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Washington. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via AP, Pool)
Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton listen during the state funeral for former President Jimmy Carter at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Jack Carter, right, and his wife Liz react during the state funeral of former President Jimmy Carter at the National Cathedral, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Washington. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via AP, Pool)
The flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter departs after a state funeral at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Guests listen as President Joe Biden, seen on screen, delivers remarks during the state funeral of former President Jimmy Carter at the National Cathedral, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Washington. (Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times via AP, Pool)
The Honorable Andrew Young speaks a Homily next to the flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter, during a state funeral at Washington National Cathedral, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
President Joe Biden walks to his seat after delivering remarks at the state funeral of former President Jimmy Carter at the National Cathedral, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Washington. (Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times via AP, Pool)
President Joe Biden speaks a tribute during a state funeral for former President Jimmy Carter, at Washington National Cathedral, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
President Joe Biden touches the casket of former President Jimmy Carter during a state funeral service at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
The flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter arrives at the National Cathedral for a state funeral, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Washington. (Saul Loeb/Pool via AP)
Grandson Jason Carter, walks by and touches the flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter, after speaking a tribute at the state funeral for Carter at Washington National Cathedral, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Ted Mondale, son of the late former Vice President Walter Mondale, speaks a tribute written by his father, during the state funeral for former President Jimmy Carter at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Ted Mondale, son of the late former Vice President Walter Mondale, speaks a tribute written by his father, during the state funeral for former President Jimmy Carter at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Marilyn Quayle, from third row left, former Vice President Al Gore, from second row left, former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former President George W. Bush and his wife former first lady Laura Bush, and from front row left, President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden listen during a state funeral for former President Jimmy Carter at the National Cathedral, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Washington. Looking on in background at seco(Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via AP, Pool)
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden greet Amy Carter and Jeff Carter before the state funeral for former President Jimmy Carter at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
The flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter arrives at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, for a State Funeral. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
The casket of former President Jimmy Carter is pictured during a state funeral at the National Cathedral, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Washington. (Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times via AP, Pool)
Former President Barack Obama, from left, speaks with President-elect Donald Trump as his wife Melania Trump looks on before the casket of former President Jimmy Carter arrives for a state funeral at the National Cathedral, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Washington. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via AP, Pool)
Vice President Kamala Harris, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, former First Lady Hillary Clinton, former President George W. Bush, former first lady Laura Bush, former President Barack Obama, former President and President-elect Donald Trump, former first lady Melania Trump, former Vice President Mike Pence and others, attend the state funeral for former President Jimmy Carter at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
A joint services body bearer team carries the flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter from the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, to head to Washington National Cathedral for a State Funeral. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, Pool)
A joint services body bearer team carries the flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter from the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, to head to Washington National Cathedral for a State Funeral. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, Pool)
Former Vice President Al gore sits with former Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen before the state funeral for former President Jimmy Carter at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Former President Barack Obama talks with President-elect Donald Trump, next to Melania Trump, as they arrive to attend the state funeral for former President Jimmy Carter at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
The flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter is carried from the U.S. Capitol on the way to a state funeral at the National Cathedral, in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
President elect Donald Trump and his wife Melania Trump visit the flag draped casket of the late former President Jimmy Carter as he lies in state at the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)
President-elect Donald Trump and Melania Trump pause at the flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter as he lies in state in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
The Carter family pay their respects during a ceremony as the flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter lies in state, at the Capitol, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, in Washington. Carter died Dec. 29 at the age of 100. (Kent Nishimura/The New York Times via AP, Pool)
FILE - President Jimmy Carter prepares to make a national television address from the Oval Office at the White House, April 25, 1980, in Washington, on the failed mission to rescue the Iran hostages. (AP Photo, File)
President-elect Donald Trump and Melania Trump pause at the flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter as he lies in state in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (Andrew Harnik/Pool via AP)
