COLUMBIA — At President Joe Biden's inauguration ceremony, former President George W. Bush told House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn he is "the savior" for endorsing Biden because no other Democratic nominee would have defeated former President Donald Trump, according to Clyburn.
Clyburn's endorsement helped lift Biden to an emphatic victory in South Carolina's early Democratic primary, which provided a surge of momentum for Biden at a crucial moment in the primary calendar right before Super Tuesday.
"George Bush said to me today, 'You know, you're the savior because if you had not nominated Joe Biden, we would not be having this transfer of power today,'" Clyburn, D-Columbia, said in a call with reporters on Wednesday.
"He said to me, 'Joe Biden was the only one who could have defeated the incumbent president,'" Clyburn said.
Bush spokesman Freddy Ford clarified that the former president only meant that Clyburn "helped save Biden's nomination."
"Let's not make this into more than it is," Ford tweeted. "Nothing biblical here."
Clyburn said the conversation with Bush happened shortly before the ceremony began, and he ruminated on it while Biden was being sworn into office.
Bush was known to not have a particularly fond view of Trump, despite them both belonging to the Republican Party. In June, the New York Times reported that Bush would not support Trump's reelection efforts.
Clyburn also revealed that he had a cordial conversation with another high-ranking Republican official while on stage for the inauguration: former Vice President Mike Pence.
After explaining he developed a friendship with Pence during his previous time in Congress, Clyburn said he stopped to talk to him briefly while the two men passed.
"I said, 'I really appreciate you being here,'" Clyburn recalled. "I said, 'Symbolically, it was important for you to be here because this country needs symbols as well as substance.'"
Though Pence attended the ceremony, Trump did not, opting to skip the customary transfer-of-power formalities to decamp earlier in the day for Florida.