President Biden says Jimmy Carter asked him to deliver his eulogy amid hospice care

President Joe Biden revealed late Monday that former President Jimmy Carter, who is in hospice care, has asked him to deliver his eulogy.

In remarks at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in Rancho Santa Fe, California, Biden addressed his predecessor's health and appeared to mistakenly disclose the news about the eulogy.

"I spent time with Jimmy Carter and it’s finally caught up with him, but they found a way to keep him going for a lot longer than they anticipated because they found a breakthrough," Biden said.

"He asked me to do his eulogy," Biden added, before appearing to catch himself. "Excuse me, I shouldn’t say that."

Carter, 98, entered hospice care last month, the Carter Center announced.

"After a series of short hospital stays, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter today decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention. He has the full support of his family and his medical team," the charity, created by Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, in 1982, said in a statement Feb. 18.

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In 2015, the 39th president revealed that he had been diagnosed with cancer. The form of metastatic melanoma was found during surgery on Carter's liver and had spread to his brain. After several months, Carter announced that he was no longer receiving treatment and that his scans didn't show signs of cancer.

Carter also was treated for a pelvic fracture in 2019 resulting from a fall.

Carter has lived longer than any other former commander in chief.

US presidents tend to live longer lives: Here's how Jimmy Carter's record age compares.

In addition to his remarks about Carter's health, Biden spoke about his Cancer Moonshot plan, which aims to cut the cancer death rate in half over the next 25 years, and called for funding for the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health.

USA TODAY reached out to the Carter Center and the White House for a statement Tuesday morning.

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Contributing: Sarah Elbeshbishi and Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden says Jimmy Carter asked him to deliver eulogy amid hospice care