By Neil Vigdor
Former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral Thursday brought together five current and former presidents. But photos of the group later shared to social media by Vice President Kamala Harris and the Carter Center left one of them out of frame: President-elect Donald Trump.
Harris, who lost a bitterly fought campaign to Trump, and Carter had both been harshly criticized by the president-elect, who attended the funeral at Washington National Cathedral with his wife, Melania Trump.
The photo shared from the vice president’s official social media accounts Saturday featured the three Democrats the most prominently.
It showed President Joe Biden, along with former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, standing with their hands over their hearts. Former President George W. Bush, a Republican, was obscured by Doug Emhoff, Harris’ husband, who was standing next to her in the front pew.
Trump was next to Obama. In the photo, a large pillar appeared to block both Donald and Melania Trump, who were at the end of their row.
“President Jimmy Carter loved our country,” Harris wrote in her post. “He lived his faith, served the people, and left the world better than he found it.”
The Carter Center, a nonprofit started by Carter after leaving the White House, shared a different photo Thursday of the funeral scene. Shot from a lower vantage point, it shows the attendees seated, with the president and vice president and their spouses clearly visible in the front row. In the second row, Clinton, Laura Bush and Obama are visible. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and George W. Bush are partly obscured, and the Trumps cannot be seen at all.
It was not clear whether the omissions of Donald Trump were intentional. Other photos taken by the news media during the funeral showed all five presidents in the same frame.
A representative for Harris’ office declined to comment Saturday.
The Carter Center and Trump’s White House transition team did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The state funeral service for Carter, who was the nation’s oldest living former president when he died at age 100, was marked by rare displays of bipartisanship at a moment of deep political divisions. Obama chatted amiably with Trump, who had spent years trying to undermine the legitimacy of Obama’s presidency with baseless claims about his citizenship.
Other Republicans in attendance included Mike Pence, who was Trump’s vice president during his first term and was the target of rioters during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. During the election, Pence refused to endorse Trump because of his actions during the riot. At the funeral, they came together awkwardly for a handshake.
Some other dignitaries did not shake Trump’s hand and appeared to avoid him, including Karen Pence, Pence’s wife, and Bush.
Michelle Obama, the former first lady, did not attend the service.
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