More Democrats said they will boycott Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20.
The number of Democratic members of Congress boycotting the inauguration ceremony has increased to 26.
Many have cited as a reason Donald Trump’s recent attack on civil rights icon and fellow congressman John Lewis.
The president-elect lashed out at John Lewis on Twitter on January 13 after the civil rights campaigner said he was not a “legitimate president”.
Donald Trump said that John Lewis was: “All talk, talk, talk – no action or results.”
John Lewis was a prominent member of America’s civil rights movement and is a hero to many Americans. He was among those beaten by police during the infamous Selma-Montgomery voting rights march of 1965.
He joined the House of Representatives in 1987 and has served Georgia’s fifth congressional district, which Donald Trump went on to call “crime-infested”, ever since.
Image source Flickr
Donald Trump’s insults, made just days ahead of Martin Luther King Day, were the final straw for a number of Democrats who will break with tradition by missing the inauguration ceremony on January 20.
Yvette Clarke, one of five representatives for New York who will boycott the event, said: “When you insult Rep. John Lewis, you insult America.”
There are 535 members of Congress, across both houses.
California representative Ted Lieu said: “For me, the personal decision not to attend Inauguration is quite simple: Do I stand with Donald Trump, or do I stand with John Lewis? I am standing with John Lewis.”
Illinois representative Luis Gutierrez was the first member of congress to say he would boycott the inauguration – announcing his decision in December.
Luis Gutierrez told the House: “I could not look my wife, my daughters, or my grandson in the eye if I sat there and attended, as if everything that the candidate said about the women, the Latinos, the blacks, the Muslims, or any of those other things he said in those speeches and tweets, and that all of that is okay or erased from our collective memory.”
He has said he will attend the alternative Women’s March on Washington on January 21.
John Lewis’ announcement of his own boycott in an interview with NBC News, in which he said that Donald Trump was an illegitimate president, prompted the outburst from the president-elect.
Donald Trump’s inauguration will be the first not attended by John Lewis in all his 30 years in congress. He cited alleged Russian interference in the election among his reasons for regarding Donald Trump as illegitimate.
“You cannot be at home with something that you feel that is wrong,” he told NBC News.
Sales of John Lewis’ memoir soared to the top of Amazon’s US bestseller list following Donald Trump’s attack, eventually selling out completely.
John Lewis led a sit-in protest at the House of Representatives in July 2016 to demand a vote on gun control legislation, in the wake of the deadly Orlando shooting.
Republicans adjourned the House early to try to quash the sit-in, switching off the TV cameras, but the C-Span network picked up live streams from some Democrats’ phones.
Katherine Clark, a representative for Massachusetts, was among the first to join John Lewis for the gun control protest. She said last week she would skip Donald Trump’s inauguration.
In a statement, Katherine Clark said: “Families in my district are fearful that the anti-woman, anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, and divisive promises that drove the Trump campaign will become the policies affecting the health and safety of every American.
“I do not feel that I can contribute to the normalization of the president-elect’s divisive rhetoric by participating in the inauguration.”
Donald Trump has struggled to book any established musicians to perform at his ceremony, despite his team appearing to have cast a wide net.
The event will feature Jackie Evancho, a 16-year-old America’s Got Talent contestant, alongside military bands and the Radio City Rockettes, although some members of the Rockettes troupe have publicly refused to take part.
Barack Obama has officially been sworn in today for his second term as US president in a small ceremony at the White House.
Although the US Constitution requires the oath of office to be taken by noon on January 20, that falls on a Sunday so the public inauguration will take place on Monday.
Barack Obama took his official oath in the White House’s Blue Room.
The public ceremony with pomp and circumstance will follow on Monday.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts administered the oath of office to Barack Obama, witnessed by First Lady Michelle Obama and their daughters Sasha and Malia as well as some family members and reporters.
Resting his hand on a bible used for many years by his wife’s family, Barack Obama vowed “to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States”.
He will repeat those words during Monday’s public inauguration, in which he will set out his plans for the next four years.
Barack Obama has officially been sworn in today for his second term as US president in a small ceremony at the White House
Vice-President Joe Biden was sworn in for a second term at a small ceremony at his official residence earlier on Sunday morning.
Joe Biden, 70, will also repeat his oath publicly on Monday.
Thousands of workers and volunteers have been working to finish construction for Monday’s celebrations, with white tents, trailers and generators being set up along the Washington Mall’s parade route as nearby buildings were adorned with red, white and blue bunting,
For his part, Barack Obama rolled up his sleeves and donned gloves to spend Saturday sprucing up a school with other volunteers, as part of a National Day of Service kicking off the inauguration ceremonies – similar to the way he spent the day before his first presidential inauguration in 2009.
He urged volunteers to honor the memory of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, whose birthday, a national holiday, falls on Monday. This year is the 50th anniversary of King’s march on Washington.
President Barack Obama’s second term work will be more of a challenge than Saturday’s school work, trying to change America’s gun laws, reforming immigration and dealing with the country’s debt.
In 2009, nearly two million people crammed into Washington to witness President Barack Obama’s first inauguration.
Four years on, the mood is unlikely to match that excitement.
But the second inauguration of America’s first black president is a moment many will not want to miss.
Hundreds of thousands of people are expected in Washington for that event – a smaller number than the 1.8 million who flocked for the swearing-in in 2009.
They will crowd onto the Mall leading to Congress wrapped up against the cold, to see their president take the oath of office on the steps of the flag-draped Capitol and listen to his speech.
The day will include music from Beyonce and Fun, parades, black tie balls and very tight security.
Barack Obama is due to be officially sworn in for his second term as US president in a small ceremony at the White House.
Although the US Constitution requires the oath of office to be taken by noon on January 20, as that falls on a Sunday the public inauguration will take place on Monday.
Barack Obama will take his official oath in the White House’s Blue Room.
The public ceremony with pomp and circumstance will follow a day later.
Thousands of workers and volunteers have been working to finish construction for Monday’s celebration, with white tents, trailers and generators being set up along the Washington Mall’s parade route as nearby buildings were adorned with red, white and blue bunting,
For his part, Barack Obama rolled up his sleeves and donned gloves to spend Saturday sprucing up a school with other volunteers, as part of a National Day of Service kicking off the inauguration ceremonies – similar to the way he spent the day before his first presidential inauguration in 2009.
Barack Obama urged volunteers to honor the memory of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, whose birthday, a national holiday, falls on Monday. This year is the 50th anniversary of Luther King’s march on Washington.
Barack Obama rolled up his sleeves and donned gloves to spend Saturday sprucing up a school with other volunteers, as part of a National Day of Service kicking off the inauguration ceremonies
In 2009, nearly two million people crammed into Washington to witness President Barack Obama’s first inauguration.
Hundreds of thousands of people are expected in Washington for that event – a smaller number than the 1.8m who flocked for the swearing-in of the nation’s first black president in 2009.
They will crowd onto the Mall leading to Congress wrapped up against the cold, to see their president take the oath of office on the steps of the flag-draped Capitol and listen to his speech.
The day will include music from Beyonce and Fun, parades, black tie balls and very tight security.
Enrique Pena Nieto, Mexico’s new president, has been inaugurated amid tight security in the capital Mexico City.
He wants to boost economic growth and cut drug-related violence, but analysts say it is not clear how he will do so.
Some 60,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence during the rule of his predecessor, Felipe Calderon.
As Enrique Pena Nieto’s motorcade approached Congress, petrol bomb-wielding protesters clashed with riot police who fired tear gas outside the building.
One protester was gravely injured after being hit with a tear gas canister.
The demonstrators are angry at what they say was vote-buying by the president’s campaign.
They were also protesting more generally against the return to power of Enrique Pena Nieto’s Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) after a 12-year absence.
Amid a cacophonic trumpet fanfare, outgoing President Felipe Calderon handed a sash with the colors of the Mexican flag to Enrique Pena Nieto, who was expected to address the nation from the presidential palace later on Saturday.
Enrique Pena Nieto has been inaugurated as Mexico’s new president
All week in Mexico City, a ring of steel had been in place around the Congress building ahead of the ceremonial presidential inauguration.
It had created massive traffic jams in the already congested city as authorities tried to prevent protesters from gaining access to parliament.
Earlier, the new president, who is 46, named a 20-member cabinet.
His foreign minister will be Jose Antonio Meade, who was treasury minister in Felipe Calderon’s outgoing government.
Enrique Pena Nieto spent his final days as president-elect in talks with leaders in the US and Canada, Mexico’s partners in the regional trade organisation, Nafta.
The PRI governed without interruption for 71 years until 2000, and its opponents often accused it of being authoritarian and corrupt, and of having links to the drug cartels.
But during his election campaign Enrique Pena Nieto was adamant the party had evolved.
“I can say categorically that in my government, there won’t be any form of pact or agreement with organized crime,” he said.
“It’s not the path nor the route to greater security for the Mexican people.”
Earlier this month, he denied the PRI’s return to power would be a return to the past.
“It is not, because this is a different country,” he said.
Enrique Pena Nieto has indicated he will focus on tackling extortion, kidnapping and murder, and he has drafted in support from Colombia’s former top policeman.
The outgoing president is due to take up a position at Harvard University and maintains he has made Mexico safer.
But for many Mexicans, Felipe Calderon’s legacy as president is of an estimated 10,000 drug-related killings a year for the past six years.
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