Donald Trump joins visitors paying respects to Jimmy Carter

President-elect Donald Trump paid a visit to the Capitol Rotunda in Washington on Wednesday to pay his respects to Jimmy Carter, who is lying in state as the 39th President before his funeral on Thursday.

Mr Carter is frequently the subject of Mr Trump's mockery during his 2024 campaign, and the president-elect has recently reignited his criticism of the Georgia Democrat for handing the control of the Panama Canal to its home country back in the early eighties when he was in office.

Mr Trump, who plans to attend the funeral at Washington's National Cathedral, kept a sombre tone on Capitol Hill, walking quietly into the rotunda with his wife, Melania, and pausing in front of Carter's flag-covered coffin, which is resting on the Lincoln catafalque and surrounded by a military honour guard.

Throughout his successful 2024 campaign, Donald Trump took potshots at President Joe Biden and Mr Carter, relying on Tory caricatures of the former president.

“Jimmy Carter is pleased because his presidency was exceptionally good compared to Biden’s,” Mr Trump said, making similar remarks even when former First Lady Rosalynn Carter was seriously unwell in 2023 and on Mr Carter’s 100th birthday on 1 October 2024.

On Tuesday, when the former president's remains arrived in Washington, Mr Trump said: "I liked him as a person. I disagreed with his policies. He thought giving away the Panama Canal was a sensible move."

Members of Parliament, Westminster staff, and former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy also joined the long queue of mourners. Lynda Robb and Luci Baines Johnson, daughters of ex-President Lyndon Johnson, paid their respects too.

Mr Carter, the oldest ever US president, passed away on 29th December at the age of 100.

A graduate of the United States Naval Academy, a former submarine officer, and a peanut farmer prior to entering politics, Mr Carter won the White House in 1976, having come from outside politics following the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal.

He endured a difficult four years of economic hard times and global crises that ended with his defeat to Republican President Ronald Reagan. However, he lived long enough to see historians re-evaluate his presidency in a more favourable light than the public did in 1980, and the national ceremony of a state funeral gave him a strong contrast to the often tense relationship he had with the government during his four years in the White House.

“He was governor of our massive state, Georgia, when I was born,” said Lyn Leverett, who braved the sub-zero temperatures alongside others waiting on Wednesday. “He's been around for as long as I can remember, and I wanted to honour a good man's memory.”

Kim James, a resident of Maryland, stated she hadn't yet begun attending school when Mr Carter was first elected and views him more as the white-haired former president who confronted disease and championed democracy in the developing world, as well as working with Habitat for Humanity in the United States and overseas.

“Not everyone remembered his kindness towards others,” she said, adding that present-day politicians should make a greater effort to emulate such an example. “His selflessness — it was always particularly noticeable.”

Ceremonies held this week have acknowledged Mr Carter's religious values, extensive public service and many years of humanitarian contributions beyond his political achievements.

Vice President Kamala Harris, House Speaker Mike Johnson, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune gave tributes to the former president at the Capitol, when his body first arrived at the rotunda.

Mr Carter's body will remain at the Capitol until Thursday morning, when it will be taken to Washington National Cathedral for a state funeral due to start at 10am.

Mr Biden, a long-time ally of former president Carter, will deliver a eulogy. Other living former presidents, including Mr Trump, are anticipated to attend.

After the funeral, the Boeing 747, used as Air Force One when the sitting president is on board, will fly Mr Carter and his family back to Georgia.

A private funeral service will be held at Maranatha Baptist Church in the small town of Plains, Georgia, where he regularly taught Sunday School following his presidency.

Mr Carter will be buried beside his wife in a grave near the home they purchased before his first campaign for the state Senate in 1962 and where they resided, apart from four years in the Governor's Mansion in Georgia and four years in the White House.