Alveda King Goes After Obama on Fox & Friends for ‘Politicizing’ John Lewis’ Funeral: He ‘Took Us Back to the 1960s’

In a Friday morning appearance on Fox & Friends, Dr. Alveda King, the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., criticized former President Barack Obama for his comments at the funeral service for Rep. John Lewis, saying that Obama made his remarks too political and misrepresented President Donald Trump‘s intentions for the upcoming election.

At Thursday’s service, Obama had moving words of tribute for his friend, who had passed away after a battle with cancer, but also had some pointed words of criticism for Trump. He did not mention Trump by name but the meaning was clear.

Host Ainsley Earhardt played a clip of Obama’s remarks and said that she thought it “sounded more like a campaign event or a rally,” and then asked King, a Fox News contributor, for her reaction.

“I guess we should have expected that the left, including President Obama, would take that occasion for a political moment,” said King. “They’ll grab at any opportunity, that’s to be understood.”

“I’ve chosen not to politicize the death of Congressman Lewis, but remember him as a peaceful, nonviolent warrior, and encourage everyone to resolve our conflicts peacefully,” she added. “However, President Obama, with wordplay, took us back to the 1960s.”

King continued, describing the 1960s as an era “when segregation was still on the books,” was “still legal,” and those in power were trying to enforce and maintain that. She sought to distinguish the use of law enforcement then and now. “When the National Guard goes in, sent by the president, for example, or the state troopers, they’re trying to protect the people of America in every community and to save lives and protect people — That is a totally distinct difference.”

King also took issue with Obama’s suggestion that Trump was making “an effort to undermine the voting process.”

“We do want people to vote safely, and we need the voting process to be fair, and so to politicize the funeral of a peaceful warrior — I mean, I guess they grabbed at an opportunity to be political.”

King was not the only Fox News personality to decry Obama’s remarks as too partisan or political. Tucker Carlson attacked Obama as “desecrating” Lewis’ funeral in a monologue on his show Thursday evening.

Watch the video above, via Fox News.