--- title: Trump Paid His Respects to George H. W. Bush at the Capitol description: President Donald Trump and the First Lady spent two minutes paying respects at Bush's flag-draped casket on Monday. canonical: https://time.com/5470122/donald-trump-surprise-visit-george-hw-bush-capitol/ author: Ciara Nugent article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-12-04T13:21:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T22:11:21.336Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Made a Surprise Visit to Pay His Respects to George H.W. Bush in the Capitol og:description: The former president's funeral takes place on Wednesday og:url: https://time.com/5470122/donald-trump-surprise-visit-george-hw-bush-capitol/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta0548bbb064b191d/6989407b7cdbac2396d5e93d/gettyimages-1068186316.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4500 og:image:height: 2531 og:image:alt: TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-BUSH og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Made a Surprise Visit to Pay His Respects to George H.W. Bush in the Capitol twitter:description: The former president's funeral takes place on Wednesday twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta0548bbb064b191d/6989407b7cdbac2396d5e93d/gettyimages-1068186316.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Made a Surprise Visit to Pay His Respects to George H.W. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Ciara Nugent](https://time.com/author/ciara-nugent/)  ## Ciara Nugent Dec 4, 2018 1:21 PM UTC  US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrive to pay their respects to former US President George H. W. Bush as he lies in state in the US Capitol's rotunda December 3, 2018 in Washington, DC. US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrive to pay their respects to former US President George H. W. Bush as he lies in state in the US Capitol's rotunda December 3, 2018 in Washington, DC. Mandel Ngan – FP/Getty Images  by [Ciara Nugent](https://time.com/author/ciara-nugent/)  ## Ciara Nugent Dec 4, 2018 1:21 PM UTC President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump made a surprise visit to the U.S. Capitol Monday night to pay his respects to former President George H.W. Bush, who died on Friday at 94. The pair entered the Capitol Rotunda, where Bush will lie in state until Wednesday morning, at 8:30 p.m. They stood for in silence in front of the flag-draped casket for about a minute. Trump then made a salute and Melania raised her hand to her heart before they turned and walked out of the room about two minutes later. Trump first paid his respects to Bush in a statement posted to Twitter on Friday. “As president, he the stage for the decades of prosperity that have followed,” Trump wrote. “And through all that he accomplished, he remained humble following the quiet call to serve that gave him a sense of direction.” > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1069778641603780608) Bush’s body was flown from his home state of Texas to Washington on Monday on board an Air Force One jet, which was temporarily renamed Special Air Mission 41. The White House [said Saturday](http://time.com/5468603/trump-attend-funeral-george-hw-bush/) that Trump will attend [Bush’s state funeral](http://time.com/5468692/george-hw-bush-funeral/), which will be held Wednesday at the Washington National Cathedral. The funeral will be the first public meeting between Trump and the Bush family since Trump’s inauguration. After the funeral, Bush’s body will be returned to Houston, Texas where members of the public will be able to pay their respects before Bush is buried alongside his late wife Barbara. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5470122/donald-trump-surprise-visit-george-hw-bush-capitol/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5470122/donald-trump-surprise-visit-george-hw-bush-capitol/"},"headline":"President Trump Made a Surprise Visit to Pay His Respects to George H.W. 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