Yarmuth won't attend presidential inauguration
In a radio interview Monday afternoon with WHAS radio host Terry Meiners, U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth made it clear he has no plans to attend Friday's presidential inauguration ceremony in Washington D.C.
Yarmuth, a Democrat who represents Kentucky's 3rd congressional district, plans to watch the service on television instead of viewing the ceremony in-person, he said during the eight-minute interview. He said several factors led him to the decision, including President-elect Donald Trump's behavior before and after the November election and his recent criticism of Georgia congressman and civil rights activist John Lewis.
"After a great deal of thought, I’ve decided not to attend the inauguration – partially out of deference to my friend John Lewis, who was attacked in a historically inaccurate and insulting way, but more importantly, because I thought about the fact that leading up to the election and up until this weekend, Donald Trump has consistently behaved in a way that has helped destroy a lot of the dignity of the presidency," Yarmuth said in the interview. "He’s embarrassed the office."
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In an interview earlier in January with NBC's Meet the Press, Lewis, an iconic organizer during the civil rights movement, said he doesn't see Trump as a "legitimate president" and he also has no plans to attend the inauguration ceremony. Trump responded Saturday with a controversial series of Twitter posts in which he claimed Lewis should spend more time "fixing and helping his district" instead of "complaining about the election results," and that Lewis was "all talk."
Yarmuth said he respects "the dignity of the office," and he does not question the "legitimacy" of the presidential election. He said he expects that there will be times when he agrees with Trump during his presidency, but missing Friday's inauguration ceremony is a way for him to express his discontent with the way Trump has behaved since announcing his plans to run for office in 2015. Yarmuth said he had received "several hundred" calls this week from supporters asking him not to attend the service.
"This decision, because it became an issue as to whether members were going to attend or not, gave me the opportunity to make that statement – that if you want to be president of the United States, you need to maintain the dignity of the office and not, basically turn it into a farce," he said in Monday's interview with WHAS. "And that’s what Donald Trump’s done."
Monday's interview marked the latest instance in which Yarmuth has publicly disagreed with Trump. He criticized the then-presidential nominee's visit to Louisville for the NRA's annual meeting in May and openly called on Trump to rescind the appointment of Stephen Bannon as the president's chief strategist in November. On Sunday, just one day before Yarmuth's interview on WHAS, the congressman spoke at a Louisville forum discussing the consequences of repealing the Affordable Care Act, which Trump has said will be one of his first priorities after he takes office Friday.
Later Monday evening, Yarmuth's office released a statement confirming the congressman's decision.
“As the transition of power is a hallmark that must be honored, this is not a decision I make lightly," the statement read in part. "It’s not my intent to protest the election results or to make a statement about policy. I will not be attending the inauguration because I believe the office of the President deserves our respect, and that respect must begin with the President-elect himself."
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