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(WASHINGTON) — Former Sen. Bob Dole — a decorated World War II veteran and presidential candidate who served in Congress for 36 years — will lie in state at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday as the nation honors the late American statesman.

Dole died Sunday in his sleep at the age of 98.

A formal arrival ceremony will begin at 9:45 a.m. on Thursday followed by a congressional tribute ceremony at 10 a.m. including remarks from President Joe Biden, who worked alongside Dole in the Senate for more than 20 years and called him “a man of extraordinary courage, both physical and moral courage.”

“Our nation owes Bob Dole a debt of gratitude for the remarkable service and a life well-lived,” Biden said on Wednesday in his first public comments about Dole since the senator’s death.

“Like all true friendships, regardless of how much time has passed, we picked up right where we left off, as though it were only yesterday that we were sharing a laugh in the Senate dining room or debating the great issues of the day, often against each other, on the Senate floor,” Biden, who last saw Dole at the White House in February, wrote on Sunday in a statement.

The president will also deliver a eulogy at Dole’s memorial service on Friday at Washington National Cathedral, which will air on ABC News and ABC News Live.

Thursday’s ceremony at the Capitol will be open only to invited guests, lawmakers said, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the public can watch online as he lies in state in the Capitol Rotunda until 8 p.m. — an honor reserved for the most revered American officials.

Dole was severely wounded in action while serving as an Army officer in World War II and left with limited mobility in his right arm — but he persevered. From humble beginnings, Dole went on to graduate law school, serve in the Kansas state legislature and then four terms in the House of Representatives and five terms in the Senate. He also led the Senate Republican Conference for more than a decade and was the longest-serving Republican leader until recently surpassed by Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

In Congress, Dole helped shape tax, social security and foreign policy, as well as government farm and nutrition programs. He was an advocate for the rights of veterans and Americans with disabilities, instrumental in the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990.

He was known was known as one of the “last lions of the Senate.”

Dole ran for president three times, losing primaries in 1980 to Ronald Reagan and in 1988 to George H.W. Bush. After winning the Republican party nomination in 1996, he lost the general election to Bill Clinton, who later presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

In a USA Today op-ed Dole finished on pen and paper less than two weeks before his death, he said Congress needs teamwork now more than ever, and wrote, “Those who suggest compromise is a sign of weakness the fundamental strength of our American democracy.”

A formal departure ceremony from the Capitol will be held at 9:30 a.m. on Friday ahead of a funeral at Washington National Cathedral and ceremony at the World War II Memorial with remarks from Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley.

Dole’s body will then be flown to Kansas for services in his home state.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Former Sen. Bob Dole — a decorated World War II veteran and presidential candidate who served in Congress for 36 years — lay in state at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday as the nation honored the late American statesman.

Dole died Sunday in his sleep at the age of 98.

Dole’s longtime wife, Elizabeth, and daughter, Robin, were escorted by service members and alongside lawmakers for the formal arrival of Dole’s casket ahead of a congressional tribute ceremony with remarks from President Joe Biden, who worked alongside Dole in the Senate for more than 20 years and called him “a man of extraordinary courage, both physical and moral courage.”

The Capitol ceremony began with an invocation by the House Chaplain who said Dole has “revealed to us what moral and faithful service should be.”

“In extolling Sen. Dole’s unequal integrity, disarming humor, and deep compassion, may we be inspired to reach into the depths of our own small-town virtues or our big city bravado to immolate this plain spokesman statesman, this decorated war hero, this, your, humble servant,” she said in an opening prayer.

Biden, in his remarks, first thanked Dole’s daughter and wife of 46 years, Elizabeth, who also served in the Senate, representing North Carolina, for allowing the ceremony to take place. He then said, “America has lost one of our finest patriots.”

“We meet here in the very heart of American democracy, the capital of the United States of America, to receive a hero of that democracy for a final time,” Biden began. “Robert Joseph Dole belongs here in this place, in this temple of liberty to liberty and temple to possibilities.”

“He, too, was a giant of our history, and that’s not hyperbole,” Biden said, after listing great leaders in American history, including George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Dwight Eisenhower and Martin Luther King Jr. “It’s real. Of wit and grace, of principle and persistence, of courage and conviction.”

The president shared a light-hearted, personal story before reading a portion of Dole’s final message to the nation.

“They once asked him, why in God’s name did he vote to continue to fund Amtrak. He said because if he didn’t, Biden would stay overnight and cause more trouble,” Biden said to laughter. “Bob and I, like many of us here, we disagreed on a number of things, but not on any of the fundamental things. We still found a way to work together.”

“As divided as we are, the only way forward for democracy is unity, consensus,” Biden said. “We can find that unity again.”

He will also deliver a eulogy at Dole’s memorial service on Friday at Washington National Cathedral, which will air on ABC News and ABC News Live.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell offered words on Dole’s management in the Senate, having served twice as majority leader for Republicans, and got laughs when describing Dole’s “trademark wit.”

“‘If I’d known, he said, we were going to win control of the Senate, we’d run better candidates,'” McConnell recalled. “I swear, Bob could have made it as a stand-up comic. But in that maiden speech, Bob was earnest. He was already championing a signature cause, helping Americans with disabilities,” McConnell said, garnering a nod from Vice President Kamala Harris, who sat in the socially-distanced audience.

Thursday’s ceremony at the Capitol was open only to invited guests, lawmakers said, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the public can watch online as he lies in state in the Capitol Rotunda until 8 p.m. — an honor reserved for the most revered American officials.

Honor guards greeted the body of the late senator shortly after 9:45 a.m. on Thursday and carried his casket up the steps of the building Dole served in for nearly four decades. The last senator to lie in state at the Capitol Rotunda was the late Sen. John McCain in 2018. Twelve U.S. presidents have also had the honor.

Dole was severely wounded in action while serving as an Army officer in World War II and left with limited mobility in his right arm — but he persevered. From humble beginnings, Dole went on to graduate law school, serve in the Kansas state legislature and then four terms in the House of Representatives and five terms in the Senate. He also led the Senate Republican Conference for more than a decade and was the longest-serving Republican leader until recently surpassed by Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

In Congress, Dole helped shape tax, social security and foreign policy, as well as government farm and nutrition programs. He was an advocate for the rights of veterans and Americans with disabilities, instrumental in the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990.

He was known as one of the “last lions of the Senate.”

Dole ran for president three times, losing primaries in 1980 to Ronald Reagan and in 1988 to George H.W. Bush. After winning the Republican party nomination in 1996, he lost the general election to Bill Clinton, who later presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

In a USA Today op-ed Dole finished on pen and paper less than two weeks before his death, he said Congress needs teamwork now more than ever, and wrote, “Those who suggest compromise is a sign of weakness the fundamental strength of our American democracy.”

A formal departure ceremony from the Capitol will be held at 9:30 a.m. on Friday ahead of a funeral at Washington National Cathedral and ceremony at the World War II Memorial with remarks from Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley.

Dole’s body will then be flown to Kansas for services in his home state.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Ali Alexander, a prominent conservative activist who organized “Stop the Steal” rallies after the 2020 election, is cooperating with the House Jan. 6 select committee and is scheduled to appear behind closed doors on Thursday morning.

Alexander, who was banned from Twitter over his posts about the presidential election, is expected to tell investigators that he had “nothing to do” with any violence that occurred on Jan. 6 at the Capitol, according to a prepared opening statement obtained by ABC News.

“I had nothing to do with the planning. I had nothing to do with the preparation. And I had nothing to do with the execution,” he said in the prepared statement.

Alexander’s cooperation with the committee was first reported by The New York Times.

“As a Black and Arab man, an American, it is common for people who look like me to be blamed for things we did not do,” he said.

Alexander said he attended President Donald Trump’s address to supporters on the National Mall as a guest. Hinting at disagreements with activists in his circle, he is expected to tell the committee that other organizers removed information from the program that would have instructed rallygoers where to go after the event — which could have prevented Trump supporters from marching to the Capitol.

Lawmakers issued subpoenas to Alexander and other conservative activists and organizers who were involved in setting up the post-election rallies in support of Trump’s challenges to the election results.

Investigators are interested in any communications between organizers, Trump White House officials and congressional Republicans — and whether the potential for violence was raised before the assault on the Capitol.

In a statement announcing its subpoena to Alexander in November, the committee said Alexander repeatedly referenced the potental for violence at “Stop the Steal” events following the election.

Ahead of the attack on the Capitol, Alexander was in communication with some Republican lawmakers and aides as he organized rallies around the country on Trump’s behalf. He spoke at a Jan. 5 rally in Washington with far-right and pro-Trump extremist groups, leading chants of “Victory or death!”

In his opening remarks, Alexander said he had spent more than 100 hours working to gather records to comply with the committee’s requests, and called the ordeal “extremely difficult and burdensome.”

“But I am voluntarily here to do the patriotic thing,” he is expected to tell the panel in his opening remarks.

Ahead of Alexander’s appearance, former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows sued the committee and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over the subpoenas issued for his documents and phone records, after he declined to appear for a deposition and Democrats vowed to hold him in contempt of Congress.

The committee has interviewed more than 275 witnesses, issued dozens of subpoenas and collected thousands of pages of records, along with social media, cell phone and communications data. The panel is expected to start a new round of public hearings as soon as next month.

Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Mississippi, said the committee has also questioned state election officials in key battleground states about efforts to challenge their work and any potential contacts from the Trump administration.

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(WASHINGTON) — By gathering leaders Thursday from 112 of the world’s democracies — some healthy, some challenged — President Joe Biden has done the easy part of a campaign promise: He’s held a summit for democracy within his first year in office.

But to actually make meaningful progress pushing back on the global “democratic recession,” as his administration has warned of, will require far more than speeches, video meetings, and even a joint statement, which it’s unclear his summit will yield.

“Here in the United States, we know as well as anyone that renewing our democracy and strengthening our democratic institutions requires constant effort,” Biden said in opening remarks at the first “Summit for Democracy” Thursday morning.

In front of two video panels with 80 world leaders participating virtually, Biden declared democracy as “the defining challenge of our time,” citing “outside pressure” from autocrats.

“They seek to advance their own power, explore and expand their influence around the world and justify their repressive policies and practices as a more efficient way to address today’s challenges. That’s how it’s sold. By voices that seek to fanned the flames of social division and political polarization,” he said.

The president has cast the fight between democracies and authoritarian governments like China and Russia’s as pivotal to the 21st century — and said his administration will prove that democratic governments can still deliver for their publics.

Activists around the world are pressing the administration, along with their own governments, to demonstrate that this week — taking or announcing concrete steps like strengthening free and fair elections, countering corruption, bolstering a free press and combating disinformation, among other things.

While the guest list has drawn lots of attention, especially for some illiberal heads of government, it’s what the attendees agree on that will really matter, according to many experts — with some skeptical that there will be impactful commitments.

“The Biden administration is conceptually approaching it from the right lens in terms of looking inward and outward and being humble about the challenges that we’re facing” in the U.S., according to Marti Flacks, director of the Human Rights Initiative at the think tank CSIS. But “in practice, translating that into concrete commitments and actions that resonate domestically is very challenging.”

Those commitments will be tested over the next “year of action,” according to the administration, with a second summit the White House plans to hold in-person next year to take stock.

“The interval period between these two events — the virtual and hopefully the in-person — really gives us, I think, a rare opportunity to translate into action commitments that are going to be put on the table,” said Uzra Zeya, the top U.S. diplomat for democracy and human rights. “This is not a one-off event, but it’s really an ongoing engagement process that we hope will culminate in an in-person summit with new platforms and coalitions working together meaningfully.”

Democracy has been deteriorating consistently for the last 15 years, according to Freedom House, a Washington think tank that analyzes and rates governments. Its annual survey found this year that less than 20% of the global population lives in a country considered “free” in their analysis — the lowest percentage since 1995.

That includes the U.S., but there are worrying signs that American democracy is slipping, including partisan attacks on elections, dark money in politics and racial disparities, according to Freedom House — which ranks Belize, Mongolia and Romania’s democracies as stronger.

The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, a Swedish think tank, has gone even further, issuing a report last month that said the U.S. has fallen “victim to authoritarian tendencies itself, and was knocked down a significant number of steps on the democratic scale.”

Biden has leaned into that reality, urging the passage of voting rights legislation or historic investments in social programs. But more politically, he’s also gone after supporters of former President Donald Trump, who continued to spread unfounded conspiracies about election fraud, with a senior administration official blaming “Republican legislators” in particular for a “systematic assault.”

“The president has been forthright and clear about the challenges facing democracy here at home throughout his presidency, and I think you can expect him to do so as well at the summit,” the official said Tuesday.

The administration has also announced a series of steps in advance of the meetings — an indication of what kind of action it wants other countries to take. For example, the administration is collecting a group of countries that will commit to stop exporting and sharing technology that could be used to violate human rights, like artificial intelligence.

The Treasury Department is also moving to implement a policy that requires the disclosure of who controls shell companies and has proposed increased oversight of all-cash real estate deals — both of which corrupt foreign officials and other bad actors often use to hide money in the U.S. made illicitly overseas.

The White House also unveiled the first-ever strategy to counter corruption, laying out steps to do so that if “matched with appropriate resources… has the power to fundamentally change the calculus for kleptocrats,” according to Gary Kalman, director of the U.S. office of Transparency International, a German-based nonprofit advocacy group.

“In a world where corruption fuels authoritarianism, today’s strategy provides a forward-looking blueprint for bolstering government integrity and advancing democracy,” he added in a statement Monday.

But the strength of these public commitments will be heavily scrutinized. Already, there’s been criticism that some countries crafted theirs without any input from civil society.

“Having worked with parties and NGOs around the world, I was inundated with emails and calls pleading for advice as to how they could influence their own country’s democracy plan,” Laura Thornton, director of the Alliance for Securing Democracy, a bipartisan U.S. advocacy group, wrote.

Biden will address the summit twice, with opening remarks Thursday and closing remarks Friday. The heads of the other 111 invited governments will make their own speeches, which are expected to include some announcements of how they’re strengthening democracy in their country.

But some of those leaders have checkered records when it comes to doing so.

Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte, for example, has weaponized a war on drugs and terrorism to crack down on dissent and journalists and to rule with violent impunity.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has sowed doubts about the country’s presidential election next year and threatened to not accept the results, along with attacking the judiciary, political opponents and the free press.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan will speak, but it’s the military that rules as “political arbiter — more powerful than either the judiciary or the elected government — and sets the constraints within which civilian politics play out,” according to Freedom House.

The Biden administration has defended its invitation list by saying it included a “regionally diverse set” of “established and emerging” democracies, according to Zeya, who added, “The invitation to join us at the summit — it’s not a mark of approval, nor is non-invitation from the summit a sign of disapproval from the United States.”

But if the administration invited them anyway because new “progress and commitments” from these countries “would advance a more just and peaceful world,” as Zeya said, it’s notable then that allies like Turkey and Hungary or neighbors in Central America’s “Northern Triangle” were left off the list.

Certain countries with authoritarian leaders will instead have their opposition leaders participate, including Belarus’s Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and Venezuela’s Juan Guaido, who the U.S. still recognizes as the country’s interim leader.

The administration also invited civic leaders, lawmakers and parliamentarians, journalists, and activists outside of government to address the summit outside of the leader speeches with dozens of side events. So while Duterte will get to pontificate, Filipino journalist Maria Ressa, who shared this year’s Nobel Peace Prize and has been jailed and harassed by Duterte’s government, also spoke Wednesday.

ABC News’ Justin Gomez contributed to this report.

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