George H.W. Bush funeral: Live updates

The blue and white government plane carrying former President George H.W. Bush's casket and members of his family landed in Texas just after 6 p.m. on Wednesday as the events commemorating his life and legacy continue.

Friends and family, after deplaning, gathered on the tarmac at Ellington Airport to watch the military honor guard escort the casket from the aircraft to a hearse bearing the presidential seal.

Bush's remains will be transported to St. Martin's Episcopal Church for the next phase of the ceremony, which will include a second funeral service Thursday in the state where he launched his political career.

During that service, Bush's grandson, Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush, and former Secretary of State James Baker will eulogize the former president.

Following that ceremony, Bush's remains will be transported by funeral train to Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. The former president will then be laid to rest on the grounds of the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum, near his wife, Barbara, and their daughter Robin, who died of leukemia in 1953 at age 3.

The scene inside the Capitol this week was arresting: 95-year-old Bob Dole, confined for years to a wheelchair, rising with assistance to offer one final standing salute to George H.W. Bush.

The history behind it made it even more poignant. Born only 11 months apart, but into dramatically different circumstances, the two men forged one of the preeminent rivalries of modern American politics, fueled by shared ambition and shaped by fateful twists and bitter confrontations, with Bush ultimately capturing the prize that always eluded Dole.

They both came to Washington around the same time, but from very different places.

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Joe Watkins, an MSNBC analyst and White House aide to former President George H.W. Bush, said Wednesday that he was "glad" President Donald Trump attended Bush's state funeral service.

Watkins called Bush's funeral "incredible," adding that "people were crying all around me because it was so moving."

"It was funny and it was moving at the same time," Watkins said. "I mean whether it was Jon Meacham or former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney or Alan Simpson the former senator from Wyoming, who was hilarious but also just so on point, or George W. Bush, the former president who moved so many of us to tears."

On Trump, Watkins said it was "a big step for him to be" in attendance, though he added that he thought Trump "had to be there."

"But I'm glad he was there and I’m glad that he said what he said beforehand and that he was consistent with the spirit of the moment, which was about honoring the memory of George Herbert Walker Bush," Watkins said.

Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions spoke with former Senate colleagues, including Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., as he exited the cathedral. NBC News asked if he plans to run for his old Alabama Senate seat — which he’s been said to be considering — in 2020.

“I haven’t cleared my brain on that,” he said. He added that he doesn’t yet have a timeline for making a decision. Democrat Doug Jones won a special election last year after Sessions left the seat open to become Trump’s attorney general.

But Sessions, who earned Trump's wrath for recusing himself from oversight of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe, was ousted by the president just a day after last month’s midterm elections. Alabama is a heavily Republican state, and the GOP has a good shot at reclaiming the seat in 2020.

With the former president's state funeral service in Washington, D.C., concluded, Bush's casket, accompanied by his family, will now board a government plane and head toward Houston, where ceremonial events and remembrances will continue through Thursday.

Thursday morning, another funeral service will be held at St. Martin's Episcopal Church, where Bush's grandson, Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush, and former Secretary of State James Baker will eulogize the former president.

Bush told CNN that his grandfather's funeral was an opportunity for the nation to "put politics aside."

Following that service, Bush's remains will be transported by funeral train to Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. Bush will be laid to rest on the grounds of the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum, near his wife, Barbara, and their daughter Robin, who died of leukemia in 1953 at age 3.

The service is nearing its end, and as the final hymn is sung, the casket is carried down the aisle in procession.

The Bush family, again escorted by Maj. Gen. Michael L. Howard, followed the casket out of the cathedral. 

Prince Charles filed out behind Supreme Court justices Sonia Sotomayor and John Roberts, but as he passed them, they did not appear to exchange any words.

I didn't have high expectations for George W. Bush's eulogy for his father. The fraught relationship between them, chronicled in Jacob Weisberg's book, "The Bush Tragedy," suggested it might be cliche-ridden and well short of moving.

It wasn't.

This was a fine moment for George W., a tough moment — as any son who has ever eulogized his beloved father (as I have) must know.

43 was, by almost all accounts, a worse president than 41, who himself wasn't a "great president," no matter what the commentary has been this week. But the better angels of the family — and the nation — came through. Among the lines from his eldest son that rang true for me, as a longtime critics of the Bushes:

"He looked for the good in each person, and he usually found it."

"He showed us how setbacks can strengthen."

"He could tease and needle but never out of malice."

"He was born with just two settings — full throttle, then sleep."

When George W. Bush broke down at the end of his eulogy, it brought a tear to my eye.

I was not crying over the death of his father. He was 94, and his death is no tragedy. And I wasn't crying over the authenticity and beauty of his son's love, though it was moving. I was sad because the Bush family, for all its leadership mistakes over the years, represents a tradition of service and honor and decency in this country that is at risk.

Let's hope these days of mourning can remind us that the generation that won World War II and built a great nation — a man who represented our better selves, or at least an aspiration to love and respect and decency — can inspire us to repair our country.

Jonathan Alter is an NBC News political contributor and analyst. His books include "The Center Holds: Obama and His Enemies" and "The Promise."

The Rev. Russell Levenson of St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Houston spoke at former President George H.W. Bush's state funeral on Wednesday, following an emotional eulogy from former President George W. Bush.

Levenson drew some laughs from the audience when he began by mentioning how the 41st president's wife Barbara, who died earlier this year, would note that his sermons would go on just a bit too long.

Levenson also discussed Bush's final days, noting that former Secretary of State James Baker, Bush's longtime friend, was by his side at the very end. (George W. Bush, in his tribute minutes earlier, said that Baker sneaked his father Grey Goose vodka and steaks from Morton's when he was in the hospital.)

Also getting a hat tip from the pulpit: Sully, the service dog with the former president in his final months. The dog, said Levenson, seemingly "has gotten more press than the president in recent days."

"Mr. President, mission complete," Levenson said, in reference to Bush's stint as a military aviator. "Welcome to your eternal home, where ceiling and visibility are unlimited and life goes on forever."

Former Republican Sen. Alan Simpson of Wyoming, who delivered a tribute to Bush earlier in the service, could be a fierce partisan when he was in the Senate. We clashed on more than one occasion, most memorably when we were the two guests on Charles Grodin's old show on CNBC. He accused me of wearing my "Jesus shoes" — a reference to me being high and mighty on some issue I've long forgotten — which I considered strange considering that I'm Jewish. But he was always good for a funny quip and we talked easily in later years.

His eulogy was also terrific, and it included some lines about Bush that are especially resonant in the Trump era. I'm thinking especially of "those who travel the high road of humility in Washington are not bothered by heavy traffic," and "hatred corrodes the container it is carried in."

When he said the latter, I was wondering if any of this talk about loyalty, friendship and decency was sinking in for the president, sitting on the aisle. I doubt it.

Jonathan Alter is an NBC News political contributor and analyst. His books include "The Center Holds: Obama and His Enemies" and "The Promise."