--- title: John Lewis: I Would Not Invite Donald Trump to Selma description: Representative John Lewis said he would not invite President-elect Donald Trump on a visit to Selma after Trump called him out on Twitter canonical: https://time.com/4635480/john-lewis-donald-trump-selma/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-15T15:46:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:44:23.212Z article:section: Politics og:title: Rep. John Lewis 'Would Not Invite' Donald Trump to Visit Selma og:description: Trump attacked him on Twitter og:url: https://time.com/4635480/john-lewis-donald-trump-selma/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d9288a12b4aea59/6988b59c97cdff51b16af1cc/john-lewis.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Day Two Of Senate Judiciary Committee Considering Jeff Sessions To Be Attorney General og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Rep. John Lewis 'Would Not Invite' Donald Trump to Visit Selma twitter:description: Trump attacked him on Twitter twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d9288a12b4aea59/6988b59c97cdff51b16af1cc/john-lewis.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Representative John Lewis 'Would Not Invite' Donald Trump to Visit Selma by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jan 15, 2017 3:46 PM UTC  Representative John Lewis listens during a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 11, 2017. Representative John Lewis listens during a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 11, 2017.Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jan 15, 2017 3:46 PM UTC [Representative John Lewis](http://time.com/4635385/donald-trump-john-lewis-reactions/) said he would not invite President-elect [Donald Trump](http://time.com/4635457/saturday-night-donald-trump-press-conference-alec-baldwin/) on a visit to Selma, Ala., with him, speaking in an [interview](http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/rep-lewis-i-would-not-invite-trump-selma-n707056) with NBC News’ Chuck Todd. Lewis, who was beaten on Edmund Pettus Bridge on [Bloody Sunday](http://time.com/3736307/john-lewis-bloody-sunday/) in 1965, has frequently visited the city with politicians from both sides of the aisle over the years, including Vice President-elect Mike Pence, President Barack Obama and former Presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush. Lewis said he would not prevent Trump from visiting Selma, and that the President-elect could stand to learn something from a trip there. “Maybe he would learn something. Maybe he would get religion,” he said. However, he said, “I would not invite him to come.” The comment came in the same interview in which Lewis also said Trump was not a [“legitimate President.”](http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/john-lewis-trump-won-t-be-legitimate-president-n706676) The comment evoked an attack from Trump, who said the civil rights leader was “all talk” and “no action.” “Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to…… mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results,” Donald Trump [wrote in tweets](http://time.com/4635385/donald-trump-john-lewis-reactions/) on Saturday morning. “All talk, talk, talk – no action or results. Sad!” Several Democrats have said they plan to [boycott Trump’s inauguration](http://time.com/4635411/democrats-boycotting-donald-trumps-inauguration/) on Friday, a number that grew following Trump’s comments about Lewis. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4635480/john-lewis-donald-trump-selma/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4635480/john-lewis-donald-trump-selma/"},"headline":"Representative John Lewis 'Would Not Invite' Donald Trump to Visit Selma","datePublished":"2017-01-15T15:46:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:44:23.212Z","description":"Trump attacked him on Twitter","url":"https://time.com/4635480/john-lewis-donald-trump-selma/","keywords":["Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d9288a12b4aea59/6988b59c97cdff51b16af1cc/john-lewis.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d9288a12b4aea59/6988b59c97cdff51b16af1cc/john-lewis.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Day Two Of Senate Judiciary Committee Considering Jeff Sessions To Be Attorney General","caption":"Representative John Lewis, a Democrat from Georgia, listens during a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing for Senator Jeff Sessions, a Republican from Alabama and attorney general nominee for U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, not pictured, in","creditText":"Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4635480/john-lewis-donald-trump-selma/","name":"Representative John Lewis 'Would Not Invite' Donald Trump to Visit Selma"}}]}] ```