Speaker Mike Johnson Changes Flag Order for Trump Inauguration

Speaker Mike Johnson has ordered flags at the Capitol to fly at full-staff for Trump’s inauguration, overriding the mourning period for Jimmy Carter.

Speaker Mike Johnson Changes Flag Order for Trump Inauguration
Speaker Mike Johnson Changes Flag Order for Trump Inauguration

Shreveport: U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson has decided to fly the Capitol flags at full-staff for Trump’s inauguration on January 20. This means they’ll be up for one day, even though the country is still in a mourning period for former President Jimmy Carter, who passed away recently.

Johnson, who got elected with Trump’s support, made this call at Trump’s request. He’s the first speaker from Louisiana, which is pretty cool. After the inauguration, the flags will go back to half-staff on January 21 to continue honoring Carter.

In his statement, Johnson said, “On January 20th, 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.” He added that they’d lower the flags again the next day.

Since Carter’s death on December 29, flags have been at half-staff across federal properties. This has been the standard practice for 30 days after a president dies since 1954. Trump had previously voiced his concerns about the flags being at half-staff on his big day, saying, “Nobody wants to see this, and no American can be happy about it. Let’s see how it plays out.”

Greg Hilburn covers state politics for the USA TODAY Network of Louisiana. You can follow him on Twitter @GregHilburn1.

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