Trish Regan of Fox News Business caught Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) in what appears to be an exaggeration about how extraordinary it is for him to skip a president's inauguration.
Regan aired video of Lewis saying that this is the first inauguration he's skipping since he's been in office, but then quoted from the Washington Post in 2001 detailing his whereabouts during George W. Bush's first inauguration.
After skipping Bush's inauguration in '01, there's a pattern of John Lewis's attempts to de-legitimize Presidents! pic.twitter.com/tmEk1kaLpU
— VP Elect (@MikePenceVP) January 16, 2017
Not only did the Washington Post report that he skipped Bush's inaugural, but he questioned his legitimacy as well:
John Lewis, for instance, spent [inauguration] day in his Atlanta district. He thought it would be hypocritical to attend Bush’s swearing-in because he doesn’t believe Bush is the true elected president.
Lewis opened the floodgates of Democrat representatives skipping President-elect Donald Trump's inaugural when he said that he felt his presidency was illegitimate. More than 30 other members of Congress have declared that they are sitting out the inaugural ceremony on January 20th.
Trump assailed Lewis from his Twitter account in response, pointing to apparent short-comings in the representative's congressional district. Many have disputed Trump's characterization of the district, and some accused the description of being animated by racism.
