Trump gets way as flags to fly full-staff at inauguration despite Jimmy Carter’s death

American flags at the US Capitol will fly at full-staff for President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration in Washington DC on Monday, despite a White House order for flags to remain at half-staff for 30 days after the death of former president Jimmy Carter last month.

The House speaker, Mike Johnson, first announced the change on Tuesday. In a post on social media he wrote: “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: “The flags will be lowered back to half-staff the following day to continue honoring President Jimmy Carter.”

Following the death of Carter on 29 December 2024, US flags have been flown at half-staff at federal properties, by tradition after the death of a former president, including at the Capitol. Joe Biden ordered the flags to be lowered for a period of 30 days, in accordance with the US flag code.

However, in early January, Trump complained about the possibility of the flags remaining at half-mast for his inauguration events on 20 January and, posting on his social media platform, accused Democrats of being “giddy” at the thought of the flags being at half-mast during his swearing-in.

“They think it’s so great, and are so happy about it because, in actuality, they don’t love our Country, they only think about themselves” Trump said of Democrats in his post on Truth Social on 3 January. “Look at what they’ve done to our once GREAT America over the past four years - It’s a total mess! In any event, because of the death of President Jimmy Carter, the Flag may, for the first time ever during an Inauguration of a future President, be at half mast. Nobody wants to see this, and no American can be happy about it. Let’s see how it plays out.”

This would not have been the first time that flags had flown at half-staff during a presidential inauguration. In 1973, flags were at half-staff during Richard Nixon’s inauguration because of the death of former president Harry Truman, who passed away less than a month earlier, as reported by the New York Times at the time.