Rep. Cummings: Trump should call John Lewis on MLK Day

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) says President-elect Donald Trump should get off Twitter and call Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) on this Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

“I would hope that the president-elect would today pick up the phone, put down the Twitter stuff, and just give John Lewis a call. He is indeed a hero,” Cummings told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

Trump criticized Lewis over the weekend after the congressman said he does not view Trump as a “legitimate president.” Trump hit Lewis’s Georgia district on Twitter and called the congressman “all talk” and “no action.” 

{mosads}“I would hope that the president would go big, pick up the phone, president-elect, and that would be on this Martin Luther King birthday celebration day, I would hope to dear he would do that,” Cummings said on Monday.

Incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer said later that a call is possible, but emphasized the need for a “willingness on both sides.”

“I think he has shown a willingness to reach out to all Americans,” Spicer told “Morning Joe.” “I think he understands the important, iconic nature of someone like John Lewis, when it comes to fighting for voting and civil rights.”

“So I wouldn’t put it past him to do that, but I think there’s got to be a willingness for John Lewis, who has fought so hard for voting and civil rights, to not use language about delegitimizing an election and the integrity of our voting system that he has frankly been a real champion of,” Spicer added.