Biden Accidentally Gives Details About Jimmy Carter's Status Before Realizing What He's Done: 'I Shouldn't Say That'
Multiple sources have reported that during a Democratic National Committee fundraiser Monday night, President Joe Biden claimed that former President Jimmy Carter asked him to deliver the eulogy at his funeral.
“He asked me to do his eulogy,” he said, before catching himself and adding, “Excuse me, I shouldn’t say that.”
Carter is in hospice care at his Georgia home.
“I spent time with Jimmy Carter, and it’s finally caught up with him, but they found a way to keep him going for a lot longer than they anticipated because they found a breakthrough,” Biden said, according to CNN and other sources.
Carter has been battling cancer for years. He announced in 2015 that it had spread to his brain, and four years later he had to have surgery “to remove pressure on his brain,” CNN said.
About a month ago, The Carter Center announced that the former president would stop receiving treatment, choosing instead to spend his final days at home.
“After a series of short hospital stays, former US President Jimmy Carter today decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention. He has the full support of his family and his medical team,” the short statement said.
Carter turned 98 last year.
On Feb. 27, Carter’s niece, Leanne Smith, said that she thought her uncle still had “some time in him.”
Earlier this month, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre wouldn’t say whether Carter and Biden had spoken since the hospice announcement from The Carter Center, but said that she expected they would “when it’s time and appropriate.”
“They’ve known each other since 1976. It’s a relationship that has spanned many, many decades,” Jean-Pierre said, according to The Hill.
Biden made the Monday comments at a fundraiser in Rancho Santa Fe, California, with roughly 40 guests in attendance.
Fox News reported that Biden implied during the event that Carter’s cancer had returned. No recording of the event was permitted, however.
Last year, Biden created the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health in an effort he said was designed to “pursue ideas that break the mold on how we normally support fundamental research and commercial products in this country.” He urged attendees at Monday’s event to increase funding for that effort, Fox said.
He also commented on the “state of democracy” in the country and the “polarization in cable news.”
Carter was elected president in 1976 and served one term. He and Biden campaigned for each other and worked together when Biden was a U.S. senator during Carter’s presidency.
With the passing of George H.W. Bush in 2018, Carter became the oldest living former U.S. president.
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