Former President Jimmy Carter ribs President Trump's 'crowd size' during Liberty University graduation speech

Former President Jimmy Carter took a sly dig at President Donald Trump Saturday as he hyped the size of the crowd listening to his commencement speech at the Liberty University a year after Trump spoke at the school's graduation.

"This is a wonderful crowd," Carter mused. "It's even bigger -- and I hate to say this -- than it was last year."

Several in the crowd of graduates and parents chuckled and clapped.

"I don't know if President Trump will admit that or not," he said, a joking reference to the Trump administration's assertion that the crowd for his 2017 inauguration was the largest ever.

The university estimated that 8,000 graduates participated in the rain-soaked ceremonies on the school's campus in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Carter, a devout Christian, mostly spoke about his faith during the speech. But he also confronted numerous crises in the world, most notably the distribution of wealth and human rights.

The former president said that one of the greatest human rights problems is "discrimination against women and girls in the world."

Carter said he hoped Christians and all religions would "come together to promote the word of the gospel" as nuclear threats and divisions continue to be sown by politicians and the public.

Carter was the third commencement speaker at Liberty University to have held the office of president, the university said on its website: Trump (in 2017) and George H.W. Buah (in 1990) spoke at the school's graduation while still in office.