Trump, Pence Visit MLK Memorial, Hail Gains in Black Employment

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence visited the Martin Luther King Jr. national memorial and touted the rise of black employment during their administration on Monday, a national holiday honoring the civil rights icon.

Earlier in the day, Trump tweeted that it was “appropriate” that the holiday coincided with the third anniversary of his inauguration.

Top presidential aide Kellyanne Conway, when asked by reporters at the White House how the president planned to mark the day, said she believed King would have opposed Trump’s impeachment.

“The president is preparing for Davos and agrees with many of the things Dr. Martin Luther King stood for and agreed with for many years, including unity and equality,” Conway said. “And he’s not the one trying to tear the country apart through an impeachment process and lack of substance that really is very shameful at this point.”

Conway said she did not believe it was “within Dr. King’s vision to have Americans dragged through a process where the president is not going to be removed from office.”

The Senate trial considering Trump’s removal from office on charges he abused his power and obstructed Congress with his efforts to encourage Ukraine to pursue an investigation into political rival and former Vice President Joe Biden begins Tuesday.

To contact the reporters on this story: Kate Queram in New York at kqueram@bloomberg.net;Justin Sink in Washington at jsink1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Wendy Benjaminson

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