NEW YORK (AP) – Donald Trump spoke of national unity to a son of Martin Luther King Jr., seeking to ease friction over the president-elect’s squabble with Rep. John Lewis, a protege of the slain civil rights leader.
“He said that he is going to represent all Americans. He said that over and over again,” Martin Luther King III told reporters in the lobby of Trump Tower Monday after a nearly hour-long meeting. “I believe that’s his intent.”
Trump met with King’s son on the holiday marking the life of the assassinated civil rights icon, just days after the president-elect had gone on Twitter to strike back fiercely at Lewis for questioning the legitimacy of the billionaire businessman’s election as president. Lewis and the elder King were among the Big Six civil rights leaders of the 1960s.
In a post on his Twitter account, Trump had accused Lewis of being “all talk” after the Georgia Democrat said he didn’t think Trump had come to the presidency legitimately. Trump also tweeted that the Southern congressman should pay more attention to his “crime ridden” Atlanta-area district.
Trump’s comments drew widespread criticism, and have done little to reassure those uneasy about the transition from the Barack Obama, the nation’s first black president, to a president-in-waiting who struggled to connect with many nonwhite voters during the campaign.