US President Donald
Trump said he doesn’t know how history will remember civil rights activist John
Lewis, but that “he chose not to come to my inauguration,” in an
interview with US media.

A longtime Democratic
congressman, Lewis died on July 17, then received rare honors in Washington and
was praised by key figures of both major parties for his life-long fight for
equality.

“How do you think
history will remember John Lewis?” Jonathan Swan of the Axios media outlet
asked Trump in the interview aired on Monday.

“I don’t know, I
really don’t know,” the president answered.

“I don’t know John
Lewis, he chose not to come to my inauguration.”

Lewis clashed with
Trump on multiple occasions — as well as boycotting his swearing-in ceremony,
Lewis cited Russian interference in the 2016 election to question his
legitimacy and warned US democracy was under threat.

In the interview, which
was recorded last week, Swan rephrased the question: “Do you find him
impressive?” “I can’t say one way or the other. I find a lot of
people impressive, I find a lot of people not impressive.”

“He didn’t come to
my inauguration, he didn’t come to my State of the Union speeches — and that’s
ok, that’s his right.” His comments come after the death of George Floyd
triggered nationwide protests and a national debate on race, which has received
added impetus in the run-up to November’s presidential election.

Trump said in the
interview that “no one has done more for black Americans than I
have.”

Swan asked again:
“Taking your relationship with him out of it, do you find his story
impressive, what he’s done for this country? “He was a person that devoted
a lot of energy and a lot of heart to civil rights, but there were many others
also,” Trump said.