Nation honors Graham in U.S. Capitol

WASHINGTON—Leaders in Washington, D.C., remembered the Rev. Billy Graham at a ceremony Wednesday in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, where his casket lies in honor until Thursday. Graham died last week at age 99. “Today we give thanks for this extraordinary life,” President Donald Trump said. “And it’s very fitting that we do so right here in the Rotunda of the United States Capitol, where the memory of the American people is enshrined. Here in this room, we remember America is a nation sustained by prayer.” Trump, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., spoke at the memorial prior to public viewing of the casket. Graham is the fourth private citizen to lie in honor at the Capitol, following two U.S. Capitol Police officers who died in the line of duty in 1998 and civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks, who died in 2005. A private funeral for Graham is scheduled for Friday in Charlotte, N.C., where Trump is scheduled to attend. Graham will be buried next to his wife, Ruth Bell Graham, on the grounds of the Billy Graham Library near his childhood home.