Martin Luther King III declined to criticize Trump over his public feud with Congressman John Lewis, D-Ga., as he emerged from a Monday meeting with President-elect Trump.
The two men have been engaged in a bitter war of words since Lewis announced last week that he plans to skip Trump’s inauguration because he doesn’t view the billionaire as a “legitimate” president.
“In the heat of emotion, a lot of things get said on both sides,” King said, refusing to censure either man. But he noted that Lewis has “demonstrated that he is [about] action” despite Trump claiming the Georgia Democrat is “all talk.”
.@realDonaldTrump prayed with Martin Luther King III & discussed the legacy & work of his father #martinlutherkingday #MLKDAY #MLKday2017 pic.twitter.com/Bhm7CruUbh
— Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) January 16, 2017
King said the meeting at Trump Tower in New York City was “very constructive.” He promised to pressure the next administration into ensuring every American’s vote counts.
“The seminal right of the civil rights movement was the right to vote. It is very clear that the system is not working at its maximum [and] we provided at least a solution to begin to address a broken voting system,” King told reporters stationed inside Trump Tower.
The eldest son of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. spent about an hour with the president-elect and members of the Drum Major Institute, a progressive think tank headquartered in New York City. King said he and Trump participated in an important dialogue about voting rights and the concerns many African Americans have about the incoming administration.
King has spent years urging the Obama administration to create a new form of ID for voting that is given to every American citizen. He said he urged Trump to do the same and will “continue to engage with public pressure.”
“[Trump] is going to represent all Americans. He said that over and over again,” King told reporters. “I think that we will continue to evaluate that.”
Trump arranged the meeting at his Manhattan skyscraper after King initially invited him to visit the newly erected Smithsonian Museum of African-American History on Monday in recognition of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
“I think my father would be very concerned about the fact that there are 50 to 60 million people living in poverty and somehow we’ve got to create the climate for all boats to be lifted,” King said, adding that “when we work together and we roll up our sleeves, there is nothing that we as Americans can’t do.”
