Transcript for President Trump's comments on the passing of George H.W. Bush

We do want to bring in our chief white house correspondent Jon Karl who is traveling with president trump in Argentina where he's attending the g20 summit and, Jon, what is the president saying this morning about the passing of George H.W. Bush? We know that the two had a prickly relationship at times. Reporter: Whit, they had a very prickly relationship, but we have a very gracious statement coming from president trump, both a tweet, which take a look at this. He says of president bush, he led a long, successful and beautiful life, and then adds his accomplishments were great from beginning to end. He was a truly wonderful man and will be missed by all. Really kind of a remarkable statement coming from Donald Trump because he had so relentlessly attacked the bush family, of course, throughout the campaign, even since president he's continued that theme. As a matter of fact, there were stories during the campaign of George H.W. Bush now over 91 years old being so infuriated by what he was hearing from Donald Trump, that he was throwing his shoes at the television set whenever he came on. I, by the way, noted that before -- right before trump's inauguration because George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush did not come to the inauguration. I noted they weren't coming and told that story and then I got a phone call from president trump saying, by the way, do you know that 41 sent me a wonderful letter and, in fact, he did. And he sent it to me and take a look at this letter. This is just classic George H.W. Bush, a letter to Donald Trump telling him that Barbara and I won't be able to make the inauguration. He jokes that their doctor says that he would be six feet under if he came but then he says, if I can ever be of help, please let me know. Pure grace to somebody who he really resented during the campaign. Jon Karl, thank you very much. Jon Karl reporting in from Argentina. We also have with us this morning Matthew dowd, our chief political analyst, Matt joins us from bush's home state of Texas. Matt, you worked with George W. Bush, 43. What are your observations on this morning? Well, I got to know 41 through 43 having worked for him and as everyone has said up until today, he was such a decent, kind gentle man, but one thing, don't be fooled, I got to know 41 in politics, I worked for Lloyd Bentsen, who was senator from Texas who beat then president bush in 1970 and I worked for bush in '88 when bush beat Bentsen in Texas. But George Herbert walker bush was extremely adept at the rough and tumble of partisan politics. There's no question about it. He was a decent, kind man, but he would bring out the bare knuckles in a political race if that's what he thought he had to do to win. He was just such a decent man and I think he's such a commitment to public service and one line from his -- in the inaugural speech in '89 that I think signifies his life is when he said America is such an important part of a country that standing on high moral principle is what defines America, and I think that's really what led his life of public service from his time in World War II to his presidency. He believed in America's high moral principle 'S sort of pushed that throughout his presidency. It shows you can be tough and decent at the same time. Matthew dowd, thank you very much. Yeah, it's such -- Go ahead. It's such a great lesson for today. No, Dan, it's such a great lesson for today. It's what we've talked about in John McCain's funeral and I think we had another that committed to public service and were a decent man. Both that passed this year. Matthew dowd, thank you.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.