Action after lewis said he did not consider trumps presidency legitimate. This as inauguration preparations are moving full speed ahead in d. C. This morning, a dress rehearsal of the swearingin ceremony using standins for president elect trump, his wife melania, and Vice President elect mike pence. This story is still developing. We have a team of reporters covering all angel else. Lets begin angles. Lets begin in washington with suzanne malveaux. Any more being said from the president elect about so many now boycotting his inauguration . Reporter good afternoon, fred. Absolutely. There are strong reactions come both the rnc head, soon to be chief of staff Reince Priebus, as well as the Vice President elect mike pence. Some republicans are clearly trying to give congressman lewis his props here regarding his stature in the Civil Rights Movement. They are coming to trumps defense here because they are vehemently opposed to the notion that trump is not the legitimate winner of the controversial election, despite any role russia might have had in hacking. Listen look, donald trump won this election fair and square. 30 out of 50 states, including georgia. More counties than any republican candidate since ronald reagan. And to hear john lewis, a man that i served with, that i respect, to question the legitimacy of the election and to say that donald trump will not be a legitimate president , was deeply disappointing to me. And also to hear that he was not going to attend the inauguration this friday i hope he reconsiders both statements. Reporter so far there is no indication that congressman lewis would reconsider. In fact, he joins at least 21 others of the democrats who announced they are not going to attend the inauguration. This comes on a day when washington is preparing for the inaugural events. Weve seen the dress rehearsals, the band practice taking place at the capitol. It comes amid more controversy over alist performers refusing to participate in trumps big rollout. We have most recently heard from broadway superstar from dream girls fame, jennifer holiday, announcing that she would no longer be singing at trumps preinaugural concert scheduled on thursday. This is south afriafter many fa complained. She wrote an open letter saying her performance was meant to heal. But shes now reconsidered. Shes backing out of that. Trump for his part, he has chosen not to directly respond to holiday but instead tweeting out saying, Inauguration Day is turning out to be even bigger than expected, fred. And then what about this boycott of being led by congressional members . Historically have we seen so many members of Congress Boycott an inauguration . Reporter an excellent question. Weve seen protests before obviously. And particularly from the congressional black caucus. It was back in 2001 that members of the cbc skipped george w. Bushs first inauguration to protest the Supreme Court ruling on the outcome of the election which they believe delegitimatized bushs presidency. The number of protesters didnt come close to now what we have, nearly two dozen who are going to be sitting out this one. Suzanne malveaux in washington, thank you very much. Meantime, trump has responded to lewis language and even boycotting by attacking his Congressional District in atlanta. And that district includes the famous Ebenezer Baptist church which john lewis is a member. Cnns Paolo Sandoval was at the church. Was the congressman there, and what more was said . Reporter yeah, no lewis sighting there, at least not today. That Church Important for several reasons. Not only is it where dr. Martin luther king was baptized. He helped galvanize the Civil Rights Movement there. As you mentioned, congressman lewis is a member of the congregation. No representative lewis today. There were plenty of politics, though, particularly coming from one of the Church Members there. And also from the pastor himself as he addressed the congregation, specifically called out president elect trump, criticizing trump, as well, saying that the president elect shouldnt be tweeting about lawmaker lewis, instead should be trying to work with him. Take a listen rather than sending nasty tweets, he ought to sit at john lewis feet and see what sacrifice, service, and integrity look like. I am prayerful that for the sake of our nation mr. Trump will finally rise to the level of the responsibility he now assumes. The president of the United States cannot afford to be baited by every sense of being challenged in any way. Its the nature of the office. If you dont want to be critiqued, if you dont want to be challenged, you should not seek the presidency of the United States. Reporter and the pastor addressing some of the comments that were made by president elect trump, particularly about, for example, the city of atlanta. Youll hear more about that later. There was interesting reaction from members of the congregation, of course. Many of them, in fact most of them, in support of the pastor. And of course feeling that perhaps president elect trump may owe an apology to congressman lewis. However, there were also others that felt that, well, the congressman not necessarily immune from criticism. They werent necessarily taking issue with the fact that president elect trump tweeted about him. Its more about the way it was done. Obviously being a civil rights icon himself. All right. Thank you very much. Well check back with you, polo. Appreciate it. Meanwhile, trumps senior adviser, kellyanne conway, is saying trump needs the help of people like congressman john lewis. Listen he needs the help of people like congressman john lewis and others. And i would just say we all, everyone agrees, that congressman lewis is a civil rights and Voting Rights leader. And he deserves our praise for that. It is disappointing to hear somebody who has such an important voice and platform to say what he said about the president which, by the way, is just false. He is a legitimate president. He won over 2,700 counties. He flipped 200 president obama counties, now donald trump counties. And in john lewis state of georgia, donald trump won by five points and won 128 counties. Hillary clinton won 31 counties in georgia. So we need to Work Together to help the inner cities and everyone else in america, and we would like his help. All right. Lets talk more about this with aaron johnson, the former south regional director for president obamas 2012 campaign. And pastor darrell scott, he is a part of Trumps National diversity coalition. Good to see both of you. All right. So pastor, you first. After those initial criticisms, trump tweeted a similar sentiment about the congressman saying, congressman john lewis should finally focus on the burning and crimeinfested inner cities of the u. S. I can use all the help i can get. I wonder, pastor, was this a missed opportunity for perhaps a president elect trump to take the moral high ground, and instead of responding in the way he did in that first tweet saying, you know, all talk, talk, talk, no action, perhaps he could have then used that opportunity to say, well, i see we have differences, but hopefully we can Work Together. Would that be the more president ial thing to do . Actually, this contention between president elect trump and congressman lewis is political. It seems as if theres a certain segment that is trying to make it personal rather than political. Its not a black white issue at all. You simply have a democratic congressman trying to delegitimize a republican president. It seems as if the Democratic Party my question is about taking as a pastor, though, and perhaps you have the ear of donald trump unlike others, would this have been an opportunity for him to take the moral high ground . Would that have been your advice to him, or perhaps Going Forward when there is Something Like this, this kind of moment, that perhaps as the president elect, soon to be president , you use this opportunity to say, okay, how do we Work Together so that a unifying message could be sent as opposed to this war of words . Im saying i wanted what youre saying. I understand what youre saying. However, it seems that a response is viewed as an attack. President trump was responding to congressman lewis saying he was an illegitimate president. I dont believe that if someone accuses you of being an illegitimate president you should have a kumbaya president. Lets not keep being stuck here. Americas stagnating, america is stuck on an election that occurred two months ago. We need to move forward past that. No, i dont necessarily disagree with his response. It wasnt harsh. We understand that john lewis is a civil rights icon. We dont minimize that, we dont take away from that. Because youre a civil rights icon, it doesnt immunize you from responses if you go on the attack. He attacked first. So we heard him being the veteran congressman as opposed to the novice politician, lewis should have taken the high road. And he can take the high road, and he still can take a high road in this. You would encourage this point forward, pastor, you think this point moving forward that you we need to move forward past this. Yes. Work together. And you think as president mr. Trump will be able to do that . Oh, yes. Absolutely. He wants to work with the Africanamerican Community. I know that for a fact. I kbhonow what he says in priva. It seems that every black person who tries to work with him or at least shake his hand and listen to him comes under attack from the black community. Were looking at bullying, racial bullying that every black person who endeavors to engage with donald trump is called a coon, uncle tom, and they need to engage and listen to the president. Whats your response to this . Wow, its disappointing for the pastor it really come on this to really come on this show and not answer your question. The issue at hand is not so much what congressman lewis as a member of congress stating his opinion, but it was the response in the president elect to say that this man, this civil rights icon, this world leader, this person that we all love and we so revered, to say that he is all talk and no action, it really just showed that donald trump was not really as versed and educate d on the decades of service that congressman lewis had provided to this country. At a time when we are able to not drink out of white and coloredonly water fountains, it is because of congressman lewis. At a time when were able to see all the progress of this country, its because of people like congressman lewis who basically almost died and bled for civil rights and equality in this country. The other issue is this if donald trump is this easily provoked, to the pastors point earlier, that he sends out a negative and disgraceful tweet that he sent about congressman lewis, its to me more to come. I think what happened is that one of the reasons why you see so many members of congress now deciding theyre not going to attend the inauguration is because you attacked the wrong man. You attacked congressman lewis. This is a person who is the moral didnt attack the congress and a lot of people didnt attack in fact, gentlemen, i mean he didnt attack. He responded. The pastor mentioned in 2001 there was a boycotting of some members of congress for the inauguration of president george w. Bush. This number is much higher with more than 20 now members of congress. And to darins point, while it may have begun as a political argument, it became personal, pastor, would you agree, that it became personal when donald trump then would talk about the legacy of john lewis and he didnt talk about his legacy and criticize that he hasnt done enough. That is what has made this make a turn. And why so many more members of congress joined this boycott. Hes not talking hes not talking about 50 years ago. Hes talking about now. Because youre a civil rights icon from the past doesnt immunize you from criticism Going Forward. Hes talking about whats going on in atlanta right now. But pastor i want to say this no one is disputing that. Pastor, pastor, you you as an he called him an illegitimate president. Go ahead heres my point pastor, hold on. He called him an illegitimate candidate. Pastor, heres my thing you have seen the same reports that ive seen that theres questions that as well been raised by the legitimacy of this election because of russias involvement in this election. Now you as an educated pastor cannot deny that youve seen that. When its confirmed or not confirmed, there was interference by russia. And what the congressman since when does d russia become this threat to American Society thats historically been the case. Were not arguing when it is or isnt because it is. Actually in front of that sound bite from the congressman, he did say in large part because of what intel has concluded. That there was influence by the russians. So lets keep in mind that that is part of what his statement was. If donald trump is an illegitimate president , then Hillary Clinton was an illegitimate candidate, as well, because the dnc was hacked. We revealed how they conspired against Bernie Sanders. Even with the superdelegate system, that it was rigged against sanders from the start youre going to your republican talking points now. The fact of the matter is that i think you and president elect trump youre trying to make something racial thats not not race at all. Its based on facts and not moving the country forward. The diabetemocratic party ke throwing things up pastor, just encourage donald trump to stop now its russia. The fbi, its james comeys fault. You know what, i think the bottom line and the hope for this conversation she lost, thats all it is. She lost. Is that perhaps we be able to look forward at what will happen past january 20th. All right. Pastor gerald scott, darin johnson, thank you very much. Appreciate it. Ahead, the greatest show on earth. Its coming to an end. Why the ringling brothers barnum and bailey circus is ending its century, more than centurylong run. Well talk with someone who used to perform in that circus. Also, tonight cnn explores first Lady Michelle obamas journey from chicago to the world stage. A cnn special report, history made the legacy of michelle obama. Airing tonight, 8 00 eastern. vo maybe it was here, when you hit 300,000 miles. Or here, when you walked away without a scratch. Maybe it was the day your baby came home. Or maybe the day you realized your baby was not a baby anymore. Every subaru is built to earn your trust. Because we know what youre trusting us with. Subaru. Kelley blue books most trusted brand. And best overall brand. Love. Its what makes a subaru, a subaru. Has been a struggle. I considered all my options with my doctor, who recommended oncedaily toujeo®. Now im on the path to better blood sugar control. Toujeo® is a longacting insulin from the makers of lantus®. It releases slowly, providing consistent insulin levels for a full 24 hours, proven full 24hour blood sugar control, and significant a1c reduction. 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Its the end of the road for the greatest show on earth. In just four months, the Curtain Falls on the one and only ringling brothers barnum and bailey circus. An iconic road show that defined the circus experience for generations of children. In the end, ceo kenneth feld said the circus was simply too expensive to produce. His family has owned the show for the past 50 years. Tickets sales were declining. And the circus fate was likely sealed last year when it retired the popular elephant show. Feld said then it was inevitable. There is a saying and its been around a long time you cant fight city hall. We found that to be the case in this situation. Reporter for years, the elephants and their dance routines were a big draw for circus fans. Not at all popular with Animal Rights groups which deplored their treatment and repeatedly criticized, picketed, and sued the company for its treatment of animals. In 2011, the circus paid a fine of more than a quarter