Trump to attend event honouring 400 years of US democracy

WASHINGTON – The White House says President Donald Trump will travel to Williamsburg, Virginia, on Tuesday to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the first representative legislative assembly in America.

The event comes at a time of heightened election-year partisanship in Virginia, and some Democratic lawmakers have threatened to boycott the event if Trump attends.

Democratic leaders of the Virginia House and Senate said earlier this month that “the current President does not represent the values that we would celebrate at the 400th anniversary of the oldest democratic body in the western world.”

State and national leaders are gathering for the celebration. The convening of the legislative assembly in nearby Jamestown in 1619 formed the basis of today’s representative system of government in the U.S.