President orders Capitol flags raised for inauguration

President Mike Johnson announced Tuesday that American flags at the Capitol would be temporarily raised Monday for the inauguration of President-elect Donald J. Trump, defying a presidential order put in place last month to mourn the death of former President Jimmy Carter.

The move came after Mr Trump complained that flags had to be flown at half-mast during his inaugural ceremony. President Biden ordered all flags to be flown at half-staff for a month after Mr. Carter’s death on December 29, in accordance with tradition and the American flag code.

“On January 20, the Capitol flags will be flown at full force to celebrate our country coming together behind the inauguration of our 47th President, Donald Trump,” Mr. Johnson said in a statement announcing the change. He said the flags would be lowered to half-mast the next day to continue to honor Mr Carter until the end of January.

Earlier this month, Mr. Trump expressed frustration over the possibility of flags remaining lowered at his inauguration, saying in a social media post that “Democrats are all ‘stunned'” by the images. He made clear he would push for change, adding that “no American can be happy about that.”

“Let’s see how this goes,” he said.

Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, told reporters this month that Mr. Biden did not plan to change or briefly suspend his flag order to accommodate Monday’s ceremonies.

Shortly after Mr. Carter’s funeral, American flags at Trump’s private Florida club, Mar-a-Lago, were raised to full height. And in a gesture of solidarity with the new president, Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas also ordered that all flags be flown at full strength at the state Capitol and other state buildings for the day. inauguration.

“As we honor the service of a former president, we must also celebrate the service of a new president,” Mr. Abbott said Monday in a statement announcing the change.

Mr. Trump had claimed that this would have been the first presidential inauguration where the flags were not flown in full. But President Richard Nixon recited his oath of office at the U.S. Capitol in January 1973 with flags at half-staff due to the death of President Harry Truman 25 days earlier.