U.S. congressman Jonathan Jackson appeared to openly criticize Donald Trump’s actions in Minnesota and his treatment of marginalized people while the president stood directly behind him during a speech at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.
Footage of the speech shows Jackson, the son of civil rights activist, politician and former pastor Jesse Jackson and the godson of Martin Luther King Jr., reciting a prayer in which he called on the president to be “mindful of the poor” and to be guided by “greater levels of compassion.”
Trump, who was standing almost directly behind Jackson during the speech, could be seen with his eyes closed and occasionally swaying lightly from side to side, according to footage from the event.
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The annual breakfast is designed as a forum for political, social and business leaders to mingle and congregate in prayer.
Jackson said he hoped the president would receive “greater clarity, greater courage and greater capacity to do what is right.”
“Today, we remind him that the lives of millions of people are in his hands and that he has the power to turn mourning into dancing or to reduce the country into a cosmic elegy of chaos and suffering,” the congressman continued, adding that he hoped “goodness” and “mercy” would announce themselves in Trump’s life.
“We are all Americans, all made in the image of God,” he said before referring to families in Minnesota who were preparing to bury their loved ones.
Alex Pretti and Renee Good, two American citizens, were both shot dead by immigration agents in January while protesting the Trump administration’s targeting of immigrants in Minnesota.
Trump and Jackson shook hands after the speech and exchanged a few words. The president appears to say “beautiful job,” but the rest is muffled.
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