Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) said that he does not view Donald Trump as a “legitimate president” who won the election on his own terms.
In a preview of his interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press” set to air Sunday, Lewis said it would be “very difficult” to establish a relationship with the President-elect as a result, despite his belief in “trying to work with people.”
“I don’t see this President-elect as a legitimate president,” he said.
Asked by host Chuck Todd to elaborate, Lewis cited the intelligence community’s assessment that Russian operatives intervened in the election by orchestrating cyberhacks of the Democratic National Committee and email account of Hillary Clinton campaign chair John Podesta.
“I think the Russians participated in helping this man get elected. And they helped destroy the candidacy of Hillary Clinton,” Lewis said.
The Georgia Democrat added that for the first time in his three decades in Congress, he would skip out on the president’s inauguration ceremony in protest.
“You cannot be at home with something that you feel that is wrong, is not right,” Lewis said of his decision to miss the Jan. 20 event.
A number of other Democratic lawmakers, including Reps. Barbara Lee (D-CA), Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), Jared Huffman (D-CA), and Katherine Clark (D-MA), have also announced their intention to boycott Trump’s swearing-in.
Not sure when his interview was given, but a lot of the Democratic Congress folk were royally pissed at Comey when they came out of the closed hearing this afternoon.
THANK YOU, Rep. Lewis. You are doing a service to the public for stating the obvious, without apology.
Trump: Rep. John Lewis, Under rated civil rights activist. SAD
If the interview was by Chuck Todd, it wasn’t a legitimate interview either.
I admire Lewis, but would like him to have a more effective answer ready for a statement like that. At the very least, mention the absurdity of Clinton getting 3 million more votes than Trump and not getting elected. Then mention Trump’s incredible unpopularity (record-low approval for a president elect). Mention a few other negatives, especially those that would not be popular with the people who voted for him. After that, you make the claim that he only got elected due to outsiders manipulating the election in his favor.