Politics

These Members of Congress Refuse to Attend Trump's Inauguration

January 15th 2017

President-elect Donald Trump blasted civil rights icon and well-respected Rep. John Lewis, D-Georgia, as "all talk, talk, talk — no actions or results" after the congressman said he didn't consider Trump's presidency "legitimate."

Trump's words so offended nearly two dozen U.S. Representatives that they are now declining to attend Trump's inauguration.

The list of non-attendees has ballooned to include the following:

  • Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Oregon
  • Rep. Judy Chu, D-California
  • Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Massachusetts
  • Rep. Yvette Clark, D-New York
  • Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-Missouri
  • Rep. John Conyers, D-Michigan
  • Rep. Peter DeFazio (who typically doesn't attend inaugurations), D-Oregon
  • Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, D-California
  • Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-New York
  • Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio
  • Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Arizona
  • Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Illinois
  • Rep. Jared Huffman, D-California
  • Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Washington
  • Rep. Barbara Lee, D-California
  • Rep. Ted Lieu, D-California
  • Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wisconsin
  • Rep. Mark Tekano, D-California
  • Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Oregon
  • Rep. Jose Serrano, D-New York
  • Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-New York
  • Rep. Maxine Waters, D-California

Needless to say, Lewis won't be attending either. (This list was compiled from reports by CNN and NBC.)

Many, though not all, of these representatives have shared their plans to not attend the inauguration with messages of solidarity with Lewis.

Others justified their decisions by saying they planned to do mundane tasks with or for constituents. Other representatives said they planned to protest or begin "preparing for resistance" against the Trump administration.

Vice President-elect Mike Pence told Fox News Sunday that he was "deeply disappointed to see [John Lewis'] stature question the legitimacy of Donald Trump's election as president and say he's not attending the inauguration."

Pence said that he hoped that Lewis would reconsider the decision.

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