A flag flying at half-staff at the Capitol on Tuesday.
Credit...Eric Lee/The New York Times

Speaker Orders Capitol Hill Flags Raised for Inauguration

President-elect Donald J. Trump had complained that flags were scheduled to fly at half-staff — a symbol of mourning for former President Jimmy Carter — on the day of his inauguration.

by · NY Times

Trump Transition 

Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday announced that American flags at the Capitol would be temporarily raised on Monday for President-elect Donald J. 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 Mr. Trump complained that flags were scheduled to be at half-staff during his inaugural ceremony. President Biden ordered all flags to be lowered to half-staff for one month following Mr. 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,” Mr. Johnson said in a statement announcing the change. He said flags would return to half-staff the next day to continue honoring Mr. Carter through the end of January.

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

Shortly after Mr. 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,” Mr. Abbott said in a statement on Monday announcing the change.

Republican governors in Alabama, Iowa, Nebraska and Florida also announced that flags in their states would be raised on Monday and returned to half-staff the next day.

“In light of the importance of this day, and on this patriotic occasion, I hereby order all flags to be raised to full staff at the Florida Capitol and across all state buildings, installations and grounds for the inauguration of the 47th president of the United States, Donald J. Trump,” Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida wrote in a memo on Tuesday.

Mr. 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 United States Capitol in January 1973 with flags flying at half-staff because of the death of President Harry Truman 25 days earlier.

Trump Transition: News and Analysis

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  • Can Susie Wiles Survive?: As Wiles heads to Washington, the view in Trump World is that the president-elect’s incoming White House chief of staff has a better chance than anyone.
  • Shedding Assets: Scott Bessent, the billionaire hedge fund manager whom Trump tapped to be his Treasury secretary, plans to divest from dozens of funds, trust and investments in preparation to become the nation’s top economic policymaker.
  • Building a Case: Trump is likely to justify his plans to seal off the border with Mexico by citing a public health emergency. Now he just has to find one.
  • A Controversial Decision: When floods ravaged her state, Gov. Kristi Noem chose not to send the National Guard. But her decision to deploy troops to the border was one reason she was picked by Trump to lead the Homeland Security Department.