Warren, pols head for D.C. amid ‘legitimate’ debate
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren dodged questions about whether she agrees with U.S. Rep. John Lewis’ assertion that President-elect Donald Trump is not “legitimate,” framing the awkward spot Democrats find themselves in just days before the inauguration.
Warren said yesterday Lewis “earned the right to raise questions about legitimacy” around Trump, who she said stepped over the line in later attacking Lewis as “all talk.” Lewis, who worked alongside Martin Luther King Jr. amid the civil rights movement, said in an interview that aired Sunday that he doesn’t view Trump as a legitimate president.
“Right now, our intelligence community tells us that Russia directly interfered with the election here in the United States,” Warren told reporters at a Martin Luther King Jr. Day breakfast event at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center. “If John Lewis has a question about that and John Lewis wants not to attend (the inauguration) because of that, that is certainly his right.”
But Warren, one of Trump’s fieriest critics, would not commit to whether she shares the Georgia congressman’s opinion, sidestepping several questions. Warren also plans to attend Trump’s inauguration, which some Democrats, including Bay State U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark, are boycotting. “I don’t think there’s anyone who’s going to be confused about where I stand,” Warren said, smiling.
Scott Ferson, a Democratic political strategist, said Democrats should be drawing a bright line between defending Lewis and the personal criticisms he made.
“Donald Trump is a legitimate president. John Lewis said he wasn’t. It’s OK to disagree with John Lewis,” Ferson said. “People in the Republican Party are going to want to make allowances for every outrageous thing that Donald Trump says. And people in the Democratic Party are going to want to make an allowance for John Lewis when he says the president-elect is illegitimate. I think it’s wrong on both fronts.”
Other Democrats similarly piled on Trump. Attorney General Maura Healey told the crowd, “Donald Trump can’t even tie John Lewis’ shoes.”
Like Warren, Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican who didn’t vote for Trump, defended Lewis — while not saying he agreed with him. “John Lewis is an American hero and an American patriot,” said Baker, who’s attending Friday’s inauguration. “I think suggesting that he’s ‘all talk’ is just simply a) not true; and b) unfortunate.”
U.S. Sen. Edward Markey said he is also attending the inauguration because he believes in “peaceful transfer of power,” adding it does not mean “I agree with the inaugural address which he is going to deliver or the policies that he is going to try to implement to fundamentally change America’s relationship with civil rights, voting rights, health care.”
Meanwhile, Trump sat down with Martin Luther King III at Trump Tower yesterday. After the nearly hourlong meeting, King called the face-to-face “constructive.”
“He said that he is going to represent all Americans,” King told reporters. “He said that over and over again ... I believe that’s his intent, but I think we also have to consistently engage with pressure, public pressure. It doesn’t happen automatically.”