Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee explained Monday why she’s planning on skipping Donald Trump’s inauguration, saying she doesn’t support the President-elect’s attorney general nominee, Jeff Sessions, or incoming White House senior adviser, Steve Bannon, because of their controversial pasts.
“I respect the peaceful transfer of power,” she told CNN’s Erin Burnett on “OutFront.” “(But) how do we come together when we have a Cabinet that has been proposed that is antithetical to the human dignity of all Americans?”
On January 12, Lee tweeted: “Inauguration should be a celebration. But we have nothing to celebrate on Jan 20. Instead of attending, I will be organizing.”
More than two dozen Democratic lawmakers are boycotting Trump’s inauguration, particularly after revelations of Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 election and his rebuke of civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis on Saturday.
And some members have said they will be protesting in Washington and in their districts instead.
“I think that this for me is a celebration … for me personally, I am not celebrating the swearing-in or the inauguration of someone who campaigned on such a negative campaign and wants to govern in that way as he has shown,” Lee said. “I will be working to help organize a resistance to some of this agenda, such as the repeal of affordable care act … so I’m going to continue to work and hopefully find ways where we can work together on issues that are critical.”
