Trump and Melania hold hands at tribute to Billy Graham

Trump and Melania hold hands at tribute to Billy Graham



President Donald Trump held hands with his wife Melania Wednesday as they stood in silent tribute to the Reverend Billy Graham under the rotunda of the Capitol.



In death, the Rev. Billy Graham is getting a rare tribute from the nation's top political leaders under the Capitol Rotunda.



Trump, House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell were present Wednesday to remember 'America's pastor,' who died a week earlier at age 99.



Some 30 family members accompanied Graham's casket to Washington, where he befriended presidents of both parties and counseled others over seven decades.



Graham's son, Franklin, tweeted a photo Wednesday of family members loading the casket onto a jet emblazoned with 'Samaritan's Purse,' the name of a Christian relief charity that he chairs.



The late pastor is lying in honor beneath the iconic dome Wednesday, before a funeral Friday near his home in Charlotte, North Carolina.



The Rotunda entrances were draped with black fabric and set up for lawmakers and family members to stand around the casket, ringed by the Rotunda's paintings of the nation's founders.



Graham's casket will rest on a black-draped catafalque beneath the soaring ceiling and its painting, the 'Apotheosis of Washington.'



'If there is any American whose life and life's work deserves to be honored by laying in honor in the U.S. Capitol, it's Billy Graham,' Ryan said.



Donald Trump heralded pastor Graham as a 'legendary' figure on Wednesday as lawmakers and family of the late preacher gathered at the U.S. Capitol to honor him.



Trump recalled a family trip when he was a child to Yankee Stadium to see Graham speak in 1957, revealing his father, Fred Trump, who has also passed, to be a 'big fan' of the evangelical preacher.



'He soon led a nationwide revival from a large tent in Los Angeles to 100,000 people in a single day at Yankee Stadium, to more than two million people at Madison Square Garden over 16 weeks in 1957,' Trump said. 'And I remember that because my father said to me, "Come on, son," and by the way he said, "Come on, mom, let's go see Billy Graham at Yankee Stadium."



'And it was something very special. But Americans came in droves to hear that great young preacher. Fred Trump was a big fan. Fred Trump was my father,' Trump said.





Graham's body will lie in honor rotunda of the Capitol for two days preceding a funeral on Friday that Trump will attend in North Carolina



Though he met every president since Harry Truman and counseled most, Graham grew wary of politics after Watergate. He was closest to Richard Nixon but later said he felt used by him.



Nonetheless, Graham ministered to other presidents until his health began to fail about 10 years ago.



Trump met Billy Graham once, in 2013, at a birthday party, that future first lady Melania Trump also attended.



The encounter, at an event that Sarah Palin was also at, had an impact on the president, who said in statement last Wednesday, 'Melania and I were privileged to get to know Reverend Graham and his extraordinary family over the last several years, and we are deeply grateful for their love and support.'



Until today, Trump had not mentioned the revival Graham led that he attended with his parents.



Trump was joined at the Capitol by his wife on Wednesday and Vice President Mike Pence, who is also attending Graham's funeral.



The sitting president is the only living chief of executive attending the funeral. Two others, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, visited privately with Graham's family in North Carolina earlier in the week.



Clinton also recalled seeing one of Graham's crusades as a child, a profound experience that became more amazing over his life. Graham counseled him as Arkansas governor, and later as president in the White House itself.



'In that little room, he was the same person I saw when I was 11 on that football field,' Clinton said Tuesday after viewing the casket at Graham's home.



Bush and his wife, Laura, also visited Graham's home on Tuesday. Former Presidents Jimmy Carter, Barack Obama and George H.W. Bush sent their regrets.





In Washington, Ryan said there had been no doubt that Graham would receive the honor of a public viewing in the Rotunda.



He told reporters that almost immediately upon hearing of Graham's death he, Trump, McConnell and Rep. Patrick McHenry, who represents the Graham family's district, agreed it would happen.



Graham shares the honor with 11 presidents and other distinguished Americans, starting with Sen. Henry Clay of Kentucky in 1852 and, most recently, Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii in 2012, according to the House and the Architect of the Capitol.



Graham is only the fourth private person to lie in honor since 1998. The others are two U.S. Capitol Police officers who died in the line of duty in 1998 and civil rights hero Rosa Parks in 2005.



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