Sorry, your browser does not support videos
(Washington) US President Donald Trump says he does not know how history will remember civil rights activist John Lewis and points out that the latter boycotted his investiture ceremony in January 2016, in an interview with an American site.
Posted August 4 2020 at 704 Updated at 09 h 25
France Media Agency
John Lewis, former traveling companion of Martin Luther King and pillar of the American Democratic parliamentarians, died on 16 July at the age of 80 years. He received a series of solemn tributes across the country, including in Congress where his coffin was laid under the rotunda, an honor reserved for the highest American figures. Personalities of all stripes hailed his memory.
Asked by the Axios website to find out how he thinks history will remember John Lewis, Mr. Trump replies, “I don't know, I really don't know ”.
“I do not know John Lewis, he chose not to come to my nomination”, he adds in this interview broadcast Monday and recorded last week.
PHOTO JONATHAN ERNST, REUTERS
Donald Trump
717231042
John Lewis had opposed Mr. Trump on numerous occasions, in addition to boycotting his inauguration ceremony, citing Russian interference in the presidential election of 2016 and warning that the American democracy was under threat.
Mr. Trump then responds to the rephrased question (“Do you find him impressive?”): “I can't say one way or the other. I find a lot of impressive people, I find a lot of unimpressive people ”.
“He did not come to my inauguration, he did not come to my State of the Union speeches – and no The problem is his right, ”he insists.
“No one has done more for black Americans than I have done for black Americans,” said Mr. Trump in this interview. Asked again about John Lewis (“Leaving aside your relationship with him, do you find his story impressive, what has he done for this country?”), He replied: “He was someone who devoted a lot of energy and a lot of heart to civil rights, but there were many others as well ”.
The President's comments come after large protests across the country and a nationwide debate over racism sparked by the death of asphyxiated black forty-something George Floyd by a white policeman on 24 May in Minneapolis. This movement gave a new twist to the campaign for the presidential election in November.
