January 16, 2017

USA: Top White House Official: President Obama Sees Donald Trump As 'Freely Elected'.

The Washington Examiner, USA
written by Gabby Morrongiello (@GABRIELLAHOPE_)
Sunday January 15, 2017

The Obama administration distanced itself on Sunday from Democratic Rep. John Lewis, who said last week that President-elect Trump is not a "legitimate" president.

"The president has made very clear that he believes that [Trump] is the freely elected president," White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough told CNN's Jake Tapper. "He will be inaugurated on Friday and he will come into office, hopefully, strengthened by the kind of transition that we've tried to run in this White House."

Lewis has said it will be "almost impossible" for him to work with Trump, who he feels was elected because of Russia's interference in the 2016 election.

For his part, McDonough said the president-elect should look past Lewis' comments and offer to work with the Georgia Democrat on legislation that is close to his heart.

"My hope would be that the president-elect would reach out to somebody as consequential and somebody who is such a leader as John Lewis, who has done so many things over the course of his life, to try to work this out," McDonough said.

"And hopefully not just reach out to him, but pursue some of the policies that Mr. Lewis has literally fought, bled and gone to jail for over the course of his remarkable life," he added.

Hours earlier, Trump took to respond to Democrats who've criticized him for responding negatively to Lewis.

"The Democrats are most angry that so many Obama Democrats voted for me. With all of the jobs I am bringing back to our Nation, that number will only get higher," he wrote in a series of tweets.

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