Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the former chair of the Democratic National Committee, said she, too, would be willing to call President-elect Donald Trump’s presidency “illegitimate,” but only if more damning evidence emerges from congressional investigations into communications between Russia and Trump’s campaign aides.
The Florida Democrat said Russian interference certainly impacted Trump’s victory in November and that more looks are needed at interactions between the two sides. But she said she was not as of right now prepared to follow the rhetoric of Rep. John Lewis, who tread new ground when he said last week that Trump’s election was not “legitimate.”
“That’ll be one that I’m prepared to use if more evidence comes out that not only were the Russians a significant impact on the outcome of this election but that the Trump campaign colluded with them,” she told CNN’s Erin Burnett on “OutFront” Tuesday.
After Lewis’ declaration, Trump criticized him, which spurred dozens of Democrats to say they would not attend the swearing-in ceremony.
Wasserman Schultz plans to go but said she respected her colleagues who won’t.
“My attendance at the inauguration has only a relationship to what I believe my role is to be able to hold his administration accountable,” Wasserman Schultz said. “Because I am certainly not attending out of respect for him.”
