Georgia Rep. John Lewis, a former civil rights icon who turned to politics in the late 1970s and entered the U.S. House of Representatives in the late 1980s, made headlines this week when he testified against Donald Trump’s attorney general pick. “We need someone as attorney general who is going to look out for all of us,” he said while arguing against Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions’ nomination, “and not just for some of us.” Along with New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and Louisiana Rep. Cedric Richmond, Lewis presented a thought-provoking case to the Senate confirmation hearing.
Whether or not the committee takes the Congressional Black Caucus members’ statements to heart remains to be seen. Though if Lewis’ remarks about the president-elect in a new interview with Meet the Press are any indication, the 76-year-old politician’s stance on all things Trump won’t change for the latter’s benefit should he opt for a different attorney general. For as Lewis told Chuck Todd in a new clip from the segment scheduled to air on Sunday, he doesn’t consider Trump to be a legitimate president:
TODD: Do you plan on trying to forge a relationship with Donald Trump?
LEWIS: I believe in forgiveness, I believe in trying to work with people, but it’s going to be hard. It’s going to be very difficult. I don’t see this president-elect as a legitimate president.
Unsurprisingly Lewis brought up Russia’s alleged hacking of Hillary Clinton’s campaign during the election, which Trump finally acknowledged in his heated Wednesday press conference. “I think the Russians participated in helping this man get elected,” he told Todd, “and they helped destroy the candidacy of Hillary Clinton.”
Lewis’ conspiracy theorizing notwithstanding, that such a senior, venerated House member like him feels this way is telling. Especially since, unlike the Clintons and other dignitaries, the Georgia representatives will join an increasingly diverse list of politicians and celebrities who will not be attending Trump’s inauguration on Friday, January 20th. “It will be the first one I miss since I entered Congress,” Lewis told Todd, adding: “You cannot be at home with something that you feel is wrong.”
(Via NBC News)