Americans Prepare to Say Goodbye to 41st President; George H.W. Bush Makes Final Trip to Washington Soon.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Kate Bolduan, joining you from Washington today where the nation's capital and the nation prepare to honor the life and legacy of the 41st president, President George H.W. Bush. Just minutes from now, the former president will begin his final journey here to Washington with his family at his side. The former president's casket will take off from his adopted hometown of Houston, Texas, later this hour. This presidential plane just brought President Trump back from Argentina. It was also first brought into service as Air Force One during President George H.W. Bush's presidency. Today, it will bring him back to Washington and it will be called Special Air Mission 41. The Bush family will be gathering at Ellington Field very shortly. You can see the motorcade there. His casket will be brought into view really for the first time as it will be loaded onto the plane. And then this World War II flyboy will make one of his final flights. He will lie in state in the U.S. capitol rotunda for the public to pay respects starting this evening, going into Wednesday morning. And then a state funeral begins. Also, traveling with his casket from Texas to Washington will be his beloved service dog, Sully. We saw him leaving the funeral home a short while ago. This is Bush's longtime spokesman, Jim McGrath, who shared this photo of Sully laying next to the flag-draped casket. The caption reading simply, "Mission complete." Let's start in Houston this morning. CNN's Kaylee Hartung is at Ellington Air Field with a layout of what we're expected to see. This is the first of really a week's worth of ceremonies, Kaylee. What will we see in a few minutes?</s>KAYLEE HARTUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kate. Very soon here, George H.W. Bush's remains will arrive here at Ellington Field, escorted by many members of the Bush family, including George W. and Laura Bush. They will board the presidential plane, the 747 behind me, known as Air Force One only when the current president is onboard. But President Trump has tasked this aircraft with Special Air Mission 41 to bring George H.W. Bush's remains to Washington and then return them back here to Houston. Pretty soon here, we will see a very carefully choreographed ceremony. Full military honors will be rendered on President Bush's remains, as his casket is boarded into the 747. We will hear "Four Ruffles and Flourishes, "Hail to the Chief," and there will be a 21-gun salute. And then that casket will be carried through a military cordon and placed in the aircraft. The ceremony will last approximately 30 minutes. As you mentioned, also onboard will be George H.W. Bush's beloved yellow retriever, Sully. As you have seen that photo of him lying in front of that flag-draped casket. Also onboard, George H.W. Bush's Secret Service detail. They will be in the second car following his hearse throughout the duration of any motorcade you see in the coming days as well. We will have a joint military honor guard serving as pallbearers today. That Secret Service detail serving as honorary pallbearers today also. Kate, the details for a state funeral have been a partnership, working the Bush family and the Department of Defense, but there are some details that only a family can see to. We have learned that President Bush will be carried to his final resting place wearing socks that pay tribute to his lifetime of service that really began when, at 18 years old, he made the commitment to be a naval aviator. You can see those airplanes on those socks he will wear to his final resting place, which will be in College Station, Texas, home of the Bush Presidential Library, on Thursday -- Kate?</s>BOLDUAN: All really just beginning as we watch the slow motorcade, the slow procession to where you are in Ellington Air Field. We'll follow this all together throughout the hour. Thank you so much, Kaylee. We'll get back to you. CNN is learning many new details about the funeral and memorial services planned for President Bush. CNN special correspondent, Jamie Gangel, is there with many of the details. Great to see you, Jamie. Thank you for being here with me.</s>JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Thank you.</s>BOLDUAN: What are you learning? What's the latest you're learning? First and foremost, who is in the motorcade?</s>GANGEL: In the motorcade are many members of the Texas family, the ones who aren't on the east coast. The east coast members of the family will be at Andrews to greet him. So it is Neil Bush and his wife, Maria. It's former president, George W. Bush, will be on the plane but meeting them at the air field. And a lot of the grandchildren we saw in the picture, Pierce Bush, Ashley, Neil's children. So many of them are going to be in that motorcade. I just want to go back to the Secret Service for a moment, because they're the honorary pallbearers. But we saw something that was unexpected. They actually carried his casket out of the funeral home and put it into the hearse. And that was something special that Bush 41, as I call him, wanted. It was in honor of his relationship with them. They were very, very close. Some other details that we're learning. We now know who will give the eulogies. So at the National Cathedral, as we have been reporting, it will be his son, former President George W. Bush. It will also be his dear friend, former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. They were very close. Alan Simpson, former Republican Senator from Wyoming, who is not only a dear friend, but I think the two of them laughed constantly together. And then finally, Jon Meacham, his biographer, will we one of the eulogists. We now can report also that all of the former presidents will be in attendance at the National Cathedral, so President Obama, Clinton, Carter, and all of the first ladies, except Rosalynn Carter, who is not able to travel at this time.</s>BOLDUAN: As you were mentioning who is eulogizing the president, the current resident is not on the list.</s>GANGEL: No.</s>BOLDUAN: What is his role? What will his role be?</s>GANGEL: So we -- he will be in attendance. The Bushes wanted him to be there. Bush 41 cared about the office. So despite the fact that there were these very harsh feelings, despite the fact we know he actually voted for Hillary Clinton, he would only have it that the president would be there, out of respect for the office. He is not speaking. So a lot of people may think that is a slight to President Trump because presidents have spoken at recent funerals. But actually, those plans were in place before President Trump ever became president. And I think in this case, there's another factor. His son is a former president.</s>BOLDUAN: Good point.</s>GANGEL: And he will be speaking. But there's no question we're all going to be watching that moment very carefully, because he wasn't at John McCain's funeral.</s>BOLDUAN: That's right.</s>GANGEL: And that was very noticeable. How they interact with him when they're all together --</s>BOLDUAN: -- the former presidents --</s>BOLDUAN: Because they don't speak. There's been no relationship.</s>GANGEL: That's right. They do not speak. You know, every time we think about President Bush 41, his relationship with Barack Obama, Clinton, his son, it's as if it's another time. So it's going to be fascinating to watch the interaction.</s>BOLDUAN: Yes, absolutely will. Jamie will be with me throughout the hour. Thank you so much, Jamie. We'll have much more on this. We'll bring you all of the live moments as they begin. We'll bring you back to Houston live shortly where the Bush family is, as Jamie is laying. They're gathering to bring the 41st president to the nation's capital. But first, we get to what's going on right now from the Oval Office. Right now, from the Oval Office Twitter feed, President Trump tweeting up really a storm right now about the Russia investigation this morning. We'll tell you what he's saying about Michael Cohen, his longtime personal attorney, and Roger Stone. We'll be right back.