Nearly 50 House Democrats vow to boycott Trump’s inauguration

WASHINGTON—The roster of House Democrats planning to boycott President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration grew to about 50 on Tuesday in a protest of the New York businessman’s policies and his repeated criticism of legendary civil rights activist John Lewis.

The Georgia congressman made headlines over the weekend for challenging Trump’s legitimacy to be the next president and erroneously claiming that Trump’s inauguration would be the first he will have missed since coming to Congress three decades ago.

In fact, Lewis had skipped President George W. Bush’s inauguration in 2001.

Trump struck on Tuesday morning, as is typical, on Twitter: “WRONG (or lie)!” Trump tweeted, citing a 2001 Washington Post report that noted Lewis had skipped George W. Bush’s inauguration.

Lewis’ office on Tuesday confirmed that the congressman 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 U.S. Supreme Court, reflected a free, fair and open democratic process.”

Lewis said last week that he would skip Trump’s swearing in on Friday, telling NBC News that he didn’t view Trump as a legitimate president.

“I think the Russians participated in helping this man get elected. And they helped destroy the candidacy of Hillary Clinton,” Lewis said in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” that aired Sunday.