ABC News’ livestream of President George H. W. Bush’s funeral Wednesday took an uncomfortable turn when the panelists joked about President Trump’s future funeral.
“It will be the best presidential funeral ever,” ABC correspondent Terry Moran said. “No one will ever have seen anything like that funeral.”
The exchange started when Moran, a veteran ABC News anchor, argued that Trump’s election was a “repudiation of much of what George Herbert Walker Bush and George Walker Bush stood for because the people who voted him wanted that repudiation.” Moran went on to say that Trump is “an expression of the will of the people.”
Dwyer added: “And perhaps a recognition, in terms of his involvement in the proceedings by President Trump, that he someday will be getting a similar treatment when he passes as a former president of the United States.”
“Probably a different tone in that funeral,” Moran said. “First he’s going to choreograph it. … So, there might be more trumpets and fanfare.”
“Yes, he would do it bigger, one would imagine,” Dwyer replied.
“It will be the best presidential funeral ever. No one will ever have seen anything like that funeral,” Moran concluded.
ABC News declined to comment Wednesday.
Bush’s state funeral Wednesday also served as a rare reunion of current and former presidents.
When Barbara Bush died in April, only first lady Melania Trump attended the funeral service in Houston. Former President Bush decided to invite Trump to his funeral before his passing.
Trump did not speak at the memorial service, a departure from recent practice.
Watch the full exchange above.