Trump is not a 'legitimate president’, US congressman says
US Congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis says Donald Trump is not a "legitimate president" due to the Russian government’s alleged meddling to help Trump defeat Hillary Clinton in the US presidential election.
"I don't see this [Republican] President-elect as a legitimate president," Lewis, a Democrat from Georgia, said Friday during an interview on NBC News’ Meet the Press.
"I think the Russians participated in helping this man get elected. And they helped destroy the candidacy of Hillary Clinton," he added.
“I think there was a conspiracy on the part of the Russians and others to help him get elected,” Lewis said. “That’s not right. That’s not fair. That’s not the open democratic process.”
Lewis, who has served in the US House of Representatives for 30 years, said he is among several Democratic lawmakers who plan to boycott Trump’s presidential inauguration on January 20.
"I don't plan to attend the inauguration. It will be the first one that I miss since I've been in the Congress."
During a speech on the House floor on Friday, Representative Raúl Grijalva, a Democrat from Arizona, announced his plans to skip the inauguration because Trump insulted millions of Americans.
“My absence is not motivated by disrespect for the office or motivated by disrespect for the government," Grijalva said. "An individual act, yes, of defiance at the disrespect shown to millions and millions of Americans by this incoming administration and by the actions we’re taking in this Congress."
Representative Barbara Lee, a Democrat from California, also said she wouldn’t attend the inauguration. Lee said the inauguration is a celebratory event and “I cannot celebrate and applaud” Trump over the things he has said.
US intelligence agencies say they have concluded that Russia meddled in the US election through cyber attacks and other efforts, but they have not claimed that such interference played a decisive role in Trump’s victory against Clinton.
Trump was one of the most unpopular candidates in US history to win the presidency, according to opinion polls. Clinton, his Democratic opponent, also had high unfavorable ratings.
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