Speaker orders Capitol Hill flags raised for Trump’s inauguration

An American flag flys at half-staff at the Capitol in Washington on Tuesday. Eric Lee — The New York Times

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By Robert Jimison

The New York Times

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

The move came after Trump complained that flags were scheduled to be at half-staff during his inaugural ceremony. President Joe Biden ordered all flags to be lowered to half-staff for one month following Carter’s death on Dec. 29, following tradition and U.S. flag code.

“On Jan. 20, the flags at the Capitol will fly at full-staff to celebrate our country coming together behind the inauguration of our 47th president, Donald Trump,” Johnson said in a statement announcing the change. He said flags would return to half-staff the next day to continue honoring Carter through the end of January.

Earlier this month, Trump expressed his frustration over the possibility of flags remaining lowered during his inauguration, saying in a post on social media that “Democrats are all ‘giddy’” about the imagery. He made it clear that he would push for a change, adding that “no American can be happy about it.”

“Let’s see how it plays out,” he said.

Karine Jean-Pierre, White House press secretary, told reporters this month that Biden was not considering modifying or briefly suspending his flag order to accommodate Monday’s ceremonies.

Shortly after Carter’s funeral services, American flags at Trump’s private Florida club, Mar-a-Lago, were raised back to full height. And in a move of solidarity with the incoming president, Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas also ordered all flags be raised to full staff at the state’s Capitol and other state buildings for Inauguration Day.

“While we honor the service of a former president, we must also celebrate the service of an incoming president,” Abbott said in a statement Monday announcing the change.

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