Two LA Democratic congressmen are attending Trump’s inauguration

San Fernando Valley Democratic Congressmen Brad Sherman (L) and Adam Schiff both say they will attend President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. (Photos courtey House.gov and Getty Images)
San Fernando Valley Democratic Congressmen Brad Sherman (L) and Adam Schiff both say they will attend President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. (Photos courtey House.gov and Getty Images)

Unlike many of their fellow Democrats, two California congressmen from the San Fernando Valley say they will attend President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration despite misgivings about the incoming president.

Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, said he wavered over the weekend about going to the inauguration after Trump attacked Georgia congressman John Lewis, a revered civil rights leader, on Twitter. But he ultimately chose to attend the ceremony.

Sherman said he did not want to distract from what he feels is the more pressing matter of urging Attorney General Loretta Lynch to launch an investigation into the “cyber-hacking” of the Democratic National Committee e-mails, which could help determine if Trump’s campaign “coordinated” with Russia to influence the election.

“I want to see the facts laid on the table,” Sherman said Tuesday by phone. “New facts will change people’s minds. New ways to express existing emotions may be cathartic, but will not change the minds of those people who either voted for Trump or thought of voting for Trump.”

Sherman said that he is also attending out of “respect for the process” of the transfer of power, noting that “you have to respect the process even when it gives a very bad result.”

“Mr. Trump will be our president at the end of this week, just as Richard Nixon was our president in spite of Watergate, right up until the day he resigned,” Sherman said.

Sherman added that his constituents have claimed all 200 of the event tickets assigned to his office.

“My district voted overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton, but there are a lot of people who want to come see this inauguration,” he said.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, is out of the country but posted a lengthy statement on Facebook explaining why he plans to attend the inauguration.

Schiff said this was “the first time I’ve ever truly considered not attending an inauguration, both because of a foreign adversarial power’s role in Donald Trump’s election, and because of his deplorable conduct before and after” election day.

Schiff listed additional criticisms of Trump, including the president-elect’s “lack of respect” for Congressman Lewis.

But Schiff said he ultimately decided to attend Trump’s swearing-in ceremony because “congressional participation at a presidential inauguration is not about the president, it’s about the presidency.”

“Yes, many in the public attend because they are pleased with the election and want to be present when their candidate is sworn in,” Schiff said. “But the reason that Congress surrounds the new president during the ceremony – members from both parties – is not because both parties are pleased with the result of the election. Far from it.”

“We participate on a bipartisan basis because we are acknowledging the peaceful transition of power that is the hallmark of our democracy,” he said.

Other local Democrats appeared to have also struggled with the decision on whether to attend, only to decide they won’t go, including Rep. Tony Cardenas, D-Panorama City.

Cardenas announced Monday at a Martin Luther King Jr. Day breakfast in the San Fernando Valley that he will sit the inauguration out.

Both Schiff and Cardenas say they plan to attend protests, including the Women’s March on Saturday.