Remembering the Late President George H.W. Bush
WHITFIELD: This week will be spent honoring President George H.W. Bush, both in Washington and Texas. A short time ago, a presidential aircraft arrived in Texas to pick up the body of Mr. Bush and bring him back to the nation's capital where he will lie in state at the U.S. Capitol rotunda. Starting tomorrow, after his body is returned to Texas, there will be a service in Houston. And then a train will take him to his final resting place. This morning, former Secretary of State and Chief of Staff James Baker joined CNN to reflect on Bush's life and the final moments that they shared together.</s>BAKER: When I showed up at 7:00 in the morning, one of the aides who assisted him physically said Mr. President, Secretary Baker's here, and he opened both eyes, he looked at me and said, hey, Bake, where are we going today? And I said, well, I said, well Heffy (ph), I think we're going to heaven. He said, good, that's where I want to go. Little did I know or did he know, of course, that by 10:00 that night, he'd be in heaven.</s>WHITFIELD: Joining me right now, CNN national correspondent Suzanne Malveaux in Houston. So Suzanne, you know, lots of events in honor of America's 41st president. What does the week look like?</s>SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well Fred, you actually mentioned about that presidential aircraft. It is at Ellington Field here in Houston. It did arrive about an hour or so ago and that was the same aircraft that carried President Trump to the G20 summit in Argentina. That is the same aircraft that will carry the casket, the body of course of President George H.W. Bush tomorrow morning about 11:30 in the morning, eastern time. It will travel then, fly to Joint Base Andrews. And then the ceremonies, the official ceremonies will begin in earnest about 4:45 in the afternoon. That is where you're going to see at the U.S. Capitol rotunda both House and Senate members paying tribute where President Bush will lie in state. And the public will be able to spend quite a bit of time paying their respects to the 41st president from 7:30 in the evening, tomorrow evening, to 8:45 in the morning on Wednesday. And then on Wednesday later, about 11:00 is when you'll see at the National Cathedral in remembrance involving friends and family of the president. And then the president, the body will be returned here to the home state of Houston. This is where he will lie in repose Wednesday night through Thursday morning, and then another special ceremony, a memorial ceremony hosted at St. Martin's Episcopal Church. As you may recall Fred, this is the same place that memorialized the late First Lady, Barbara Bush. This is the family's place of worship. And then there will be a brief train ride of the casket as it is delivered to the burial site, the presidential library in College Station, Texas. Fred, I have to tell you, there have been so many people that we have talked to today about the former president. We had a chance to see a beautiful, larger than life statue here in the park where we are, where they laid down flowers, teddy bears, and those very colorful assortment of socks that the president simply loved. And we had a chance to get a sense of what people here feel about the first family. Take a listen.</s>PIERO TALIENTE, HOUSTON RESIDENT: It's just sad to see him go, and he will be missed. We'll feel it here in Houston. We just wish everybody well.</s>MALVEAUX: And how will you feel it here in Houston? I know that he was really active in the community with the sports teams and both of them really as a fixture in the community.</s>TALIENTE: It's going to be very somber for the next year or so.</s>MALVEAUX: Fred, so many people told us about how there was such a great sense of respect that they had for the president as well as his family here. He was a big booster of the city. He really put Houston on the map. A big sports fan as well. The seventh district, congressional district, that he represent, now turning blue, but people don't seem to care. They don't seem to matter. They really believe that he was a very good, decent person who really crossed the kind of partisanship and the divide that we see today, Fred.</s>WHITFIELD: Yes, he had a big reach. All right, Suzanne Malveaux, thank you so much in Houston. Meantime, stories and tributes are still pouring in for President George H.W. Bush. This morning, former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger told CNN about the time Bush 41 tried to teach him how to sled. So last hour, I asked the president's son, Neil, about the incident.</s>WHITFIELD: We've been able to hear all kinds of stories from people in the last, you know, 24 hours including Arnold Schwarzenegger, you know, who spent a lot of time, you know, with your family. And he actually showed this very humorous story and I'd like you to listen to it and hear what you have to say.</s>NEIL BUSH, SON OF PRESIDENT GEORGE H.W. BUSH: Yes, he did. About the sled?</s>WHITFIELD: Yes.</s>BUSH: OK.</s>WHITFIELD: Let's listen.</s>ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, FORMER CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR: But it was one day that it was snowing up there and we had this toboggan and he was trying to teach me how to slide that because I was only used to sledding down with Austrian sleds, which you direct kind of with your feet. And so we went down totally out of control. And of course, we crashed into Barbara Bush who broke her leg then after that. So that's why he sent me this picture. I said, we had really a great time up there at Camp David. And like I said, it was a great learning experience, hanging out around him. He was kind of like a mentor and kind of like a father figure at the same time.</s>WHITFIELD: So it's touching in the end, but, you know, about the whole notion of the crash and your mom breaking her leg. So, is he saying that he led to the breaking of your mom's leg, or did she break her leg in a different way because there are different stories out there? What do you recall?</s>BUSH: Well, she broke the leg running into it -- I wasn't there, but she broke the leg running into a tree and she -- anyway, so yes, I love hearing that Arnold Schwarzenegger accent. He's such a -- he has been good friend.</s>WHITFIELD: Everybody is sharing so many lovely stories about their interaction with Neil's dad, President George H.W. Bush. All right. Still ahead, are we seeing a truce between the world's two largest economies? President Trump says he's holding off new tariffs on Chinese products. Details coming up.