Trump unleashes attack on US civil rights icon
WASHINGTON: Presidentelect Donald Trump lashed out Saturday at a prominent civil rights icon and lawmaker who said he is skipping next week’s inauguration ceremony because he sees the New York businessman’s election as illegitimate.
Trump aimed his latest Twitter blast at longtime congressman John Lewis and the majorityblack district in Georgia he represents, drawing widespread criticism just days before the holiday honoring the slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
Lewis, whose district includes Atlanta and surrounding areas, on Friday became the highestprofile Democratic lawmaker to boycott Trump’s inauguration.
“I don’t see this president- elect as a legitimate president,” he told NBC’s “Meet the Press” talk show in an interview on Friday.
Trump fired back at him early on Saturday.
“Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results,” Trump said on Twitter.
“All talk, talk, talk -- no action or results. Sad!”
He followed up later in the evening with a tweet repeating his campaign theme that African Americans are living in desperately grim inner-city areas where they lack education and jobs.
Lewis “should finally focus on the burning and crime infested inner- cities of the US,” he said. “I can use all the help I can get!”
Known for his decades of work in the civil rights movement, Lewis, 76, marched with King at the August 1963 rally in Washington at which King gave his “I Have a Dream” speech. — AFP