Fmr. AG Ashcroft: Inauguration Protests Could Backfire

More than 40 lawmakers have so far said they plan to boycott President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration Friday, but even more protesters are expected to take to the nation’s capital in opposition.

Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft joined the FOX Business Network to weigh in on the planned demonstrations.

“We have never seen any response like this before,” he said. “I think there’s a component of backfiring in what they’re doing [protesting], because I think the American people disrespect this kind of effort to pull the rug out from under our constitutional democracy.”

Ashcroft, who served under President George W. Bush’s administration, acknowledged the right protesters have to demonstrate, but said they are only “reinforcing” what they were protesting.

“They’re saying one of the reasons they’re protesting is that there was Russian involvement in the election,” Ashcroft said. “Well, what the Russians really wanted to do in our election was to destabilize and devalue our democracy. And the protesters find themselves advancing the cause of the Russians in this setting to make our election seem, in some way, to some of the world perhaps, less legitimate.”