Hillary and Bill Clinton have confirmed they will attend Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony on January 20.
Meanwhile, former President George W. Bush and his wife Laura have also announced plans to turn up, saying they want to “witness the peaceful transfer of power”.
Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 45th US president on Capitol Hill.
He defeated Hillary Clinton in November’s election and castigated George W. Bush over the Iraq war and 9/11.
Before January 3 announcement, Jimmy Carter was the only former president to have said he would attend the nation’s 58th inauguration.
Another former White House incumbent, 92-year-old George H.W. Bush has already said he will not attend the event, citing his age.
Despite Hillary Clinton winning the popular vote by nearly three million ballots, Donald Trump succeeded in getting the all-important Electoral College votes required to win.
During the election campaign, Donald Trump ridiculed George W. Bush’s claim to have kept Americans safe, pointing out the 9/11 attacks happened on his watch.
The New York billionaire had also accused the 43rd president of lying about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Donald Trump pummeled another member of the Bush clan, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, calling his primary season rival “low-energy”.
The now president-elect had also savaged his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, labeling her “Crooked Hillary”.
Former President George W. Bush accepted his daughter Jenna Bush Hager’s ice bucket challenge on August 20.
In a hilarious twist, former First Lady Laura Bush surprised him with the face full of cold water after the former president offered just to write a check.
Jenna Bush Hager nominated her dad for the viral challenge, which has helped raise over $22 million for ALS Association, when NBC News’ Craig Melvin doused her last week.
George W. Bush wrote on Facebook: “Thanks to Jenna Bush Hager, Rory McIlroy, Woody Johnson, and Coach Jim Harbaugh for the #IceBucketChallenge – and to Laura W. Bush for the check. Next up: President Bill Clinton. Help #StrikeOutALS at www.alsa.org.“
The former president starts his video by trying to forgo the ice altogether.
George W. Bush accepted his daughter Jenna Bush Hager’s ice bucket challenge
“I do not think it’s presidential for me to be splashed with ice water,” George W. Bush said.
“So, I’m simply going to write you a check.”
Then Laura Bush sneaks up behind her husband and splashes him with the required bucket of ice water.
“Now it’s my privilege to challenge my friend Bill Clinton,” George W. Bush tells the camera after he gets a moment to dry himself off.
“Yesterday was Bill’s birthday. And my gift to Bill is a bucket of cold water,” President George W. Bush said.
George W. Bush revealed his painting hobby, talked about his granddaughter and poked fun at his post-White House years on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno last night.
The former president said that he was inspired to take up painting after reading a Winston Churchill essay.
When he hired an instructor for weekly lessons, the 43rd president said he told her: “There’s a Rembrandt trapped in this body. Your job is to find it.”
George W. Bush, 67, shared paintings of his dog Barney and a stray cat that he adopted and named Bob said painting has changed his life.
George W. Bush presented Jay Leno with a portrait of the comedian
He presented Jay Leno with a portrait of the comedian, prompting him to say: “I can’t make fun of him now.”
When asked what caused a blocked artery that led to his hospitalization in August, George W. Bush joked that it was because he “didn’t behave that well when I was younger and I might have smoked some”.
George W. Bush has kept a mostly low profile since exiting office in early 2009 while the country was in two wars and struggling with an economic crisis.
“It’s hard for some to believe, but I think eight years in the spotlight’s enough,” he said.
Former First Lady Laura Bush also appeared on Jay Leno’s show to discuss the couple’s charitable causes. They also showed the strand of pearls George W. Bush gave her for their 36th wedding anniversary and a video clip of their first grandchild, nicknamed Mila.
First Ladies Michelle Obama and Laura Bush attended the African First Ladies Summit in Tanzania where they complained about how the White House can feel like a prison.
“There are prison elements to it. But it’s a really nice prison,” Michelle Obama said at the Tuesday panel in Tanzania.
Her predecessor, Laura Bush, then added that the chef is an addition unlike other prisons, and Michelle Obama brought it back to the point, saying: “You can’t complain. But there is definitely elements that are confining.”
The conversation came up as Michelle Obama and Laura Bush were interviewed by an American journalist about how African first ladies can take a public stand and use their spotlight for good.
The Democrat and Republican said that they both grow frustrated at how the public focuses on trivial aspects of their appearance- like Michelle Obama’s famous bangs- rather than the causes that are close to their heart.
“We take our bangs and we stand in front of important things that the world needs to see. And eventually, people stop looking at the bangs and they start looking at what we’re standing in front of,” Michelle Obama said.
Laura Bush, whose hairstyle has largely stayed the same since she and her husband first entered the White House in 2000, added: “Our daughter, Barbara, cut bangs at the same time Michelle did. They commiserated.”
First Ladies Michelle Obama and Laura Bush attended the African First Ladies Summit in Tanzania where they complained about how the White House can feel like a prison
“I was doing what Barbara was doing. I was just following her lead,” Michelle Obama joked.
The Tuesday panel was a very public display of mutual affection between the two first ladies, moderated by journalist Cokie Roberts- who works for ABC but was also appointed onto President George W. Bush’s Council on Service and Civic Participation.
Michelle Obama said that she made a point of spending some time with Laura Bush during their overlapping trips to Africa because: “I like this woman.”
“It’s sort of a club, a sorority, I guess,” Laura Bush said.
Michelle Obama praised Laura Bush and her staff for helping with their transition into the White House, but both women complained about the steep learning curve they faced.
“Nothing prepares you for this role. I mean, it is so startling that the transition of power in the United States happens so quickly that you don’t have access to the house until the President takes the oath of office,” Michelle Obama said.
“I remember walking into that house and I didn’t even know where the bathrooms were. But I had to get ready for a ball. It was like, and I’ve got to look nice? It’s like, what door is this, and you’re opening up all these doors, and you can’t find your toothpaste, you don’t know where your kids are.”
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