WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Monday he will not be attending memorial services for civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis this week.
Lewis will lie in state at the Capitol as part of six days of funeral proceedings, and the public will be allowed to visit later Monday and Tuesday. Lewis died July 17 from pancreatic cancer at 80.
“No, I won’t be going, no,” Trump told reporters when asked if he would pay respects to Lewis Monday or Tuesday at the Capitol. Trump traveled Monday to to North Carolina to visit a facility working on a COVID-19 vaccine and returned in the early evening.
Vice President Mike Pence and second lady Karen Pence paid respects to Lewis as he lay in state Monday evening. Former Vice President Joe Biden and Jill Biden also visited the Capitol to honor Lewis Monday.
Lewis served in Congress for more than three decades and fought against segregation and discrimination against Black Americans during the Civil Rights Movement, an organizer of the March on Washington and a member of the original Freedom Riders.
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