US Congressman: 'Trump is not the legitimate president'

U.S. Congressman John Lewis said he does not recognize President-elect Donald Trump's role as the head of the White House.

US Congressman John Lewis. Photo: AFP

"I do not consider this president-elect to be a legitimate president," NBC News quoted Lewis as saying today.

Explaining this, the congressman referred to allegations of Russian cyberattacks during last year's US presidential election. He argued that Moscow's interference led to the leak of internal information from the Democratic National Committee and from Hillary Clinton's campaign co-chair, John Podesta.

"I believe the Russians were involved in helping this man get elected. They helped sabotage Clinton's candidacy," Lewis said.

When asked if he would try to improve relations with the president-elect, Lewis said he believed in forgiveness, but added, "it would be difficult."

On January 11, US President-elect Trump acknowledged Russian interference in the election, but argued that any foreign interference would not have affected the outcome.

Lewis said he had no plans to attend Trump's inauguration, stating that it would be the first time he had not attended since becoming a congressman.

"You can't be happy and comfortable with something that you feel is wrong, that it's not right," he said.

In response to Lewis's assessment, President-elect Trump posted several tweets, saying that the longtime Georgia congressman should "spend more of his time fixing and helping his district, which is in terrible shape and divided, not to mention plagued by crime, than wrongfully complaining about the election results."

Representative Lewis is a civil rights leader, representing a district that encompasses most of downtown Atlanta and schools for Black people.

According to VNE