New York – U.S. President-elect Donald Trump extended his war of words with African-American civil rights leader John Lewis on Tuesday, accusing the Democratic congressman of lying when he said Trump’s inauguration would be the first that he would miss.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
“John Lewis said about my inauguration, ‘It will be the first one that I’ve missed.’ WRONG (or lie)! He boycotted Bush 43 also because he ‘thought it would be hypocritical to attend Bush’s swearing-in….he doesn’t believe Bush is the true elected president.’ Sound familiar!” Trump said in a pair of posts on Twitter.
The Republican president-elect initially clashed with Lewis on Twitter over the weekend after the congressman from Georgia questioned the legitimacy of his Nov. 8 election victory, because of U.S. intelligence agencies’ conclusion that Russia meddled in the campaign. Lewis also said he would not attend Trump’s swearing-in this Friday and that “It will be the first one that I miss since I’ve been in the Congress.”
Lewis’ remarks, in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” were released last Friday at the beginning of the long holiday weekend that honors slain black civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
Trump responded on Saturday by tweeting that Lewis had falsely complained about the election results and instead “should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to mention crime infested).”
“All talk, talk, talk – no action or results. Sad!” Trump wrote on Saturday.
On Tuesday, Trump continued the battle, saying Lewis lied and quoting an article in The Washington Post in 2001 that said Lewis spent that Inauguration Day in his Atlanta district rather than see Republican President George W. Bush sworn in.
Lewis’ office on Tuesday confirmed that the civil rights icon had missed Bush’s swearing in.
“His absence at that time was also a form of dissent,” said spokeswoman Brenda Jones. “He did not believe the outcome of that election, including the controversies around the results in Florida and the unprecedented intervention of the US Supreme Court, reflected a free, fair and open democratic process.”
Bush was declared the winner of the 2000 election after the Supreme Court halted a protracted recount of a very close election in Florida between him and Democratic candidate Al Gore.
Trump’s attacks on Lewis offended many Americans including some of Trump’s fellow Republicans. Trump drew just 8 percent of the black vote in the November election.
The 76-year-old Lewis, who has been a civil rights leader for more than half a century, was beaten by police during a march he helped lead in 1965 in Selma, Alabama, drawing attention to hurdles for blacks to vote. He protested alongside King that day and on other occasions.
Ha, I love it when the liberals pretend to be holier than thou only to be proven as liars.
I used to visit him on chol hamoed when I was a child, He lived in the Bronx.