Trump goads black congressman Elijah Cummings about his home being burgled: 'Too bad!'
‘Really bad news!’ president tweets as police investigate Baltimore break-in
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Donald Trump has goaded black congressman Elijah Cummings about his home being burgled in Baltimore – the city the president described as “disgusting” and “rat and rodent infested”.
In the latest in a spate of attacks on the Democratic politician, the president tweeted: “Really bad news! The Baltimore house of Elijah Cummings was robbed. Too bad!”
The Baltimore Police Department said it was investigating reports of a burglary which took place at the congressman’s house shortly before 4am on Saturday.
The police said they did not know whether any property was taken during the robbery, which happened only hours before the president fired off his first tweet about Baltimore and its political representatives.
Mr Trump has launched repeated attacks on Mr Cummings and the area since then, describing the majority-black city as a “living hell”, “very dangerous & filthy” and “FAR WORSE and more dangerous” than places at the US-Mexico border.
The president suggested the Democrat should use his role as House Oversight Committee chairman to “investigate himself”, claiming billions of dollars sent to tackle crime and boost Baltimore’s economy had been “stolen or wasted”.
He also wrote that the city’s “numbers are the worst in the United States on Crime and the Economy”.
Top Democrats on Capitol Hill have rebuked the president’s “racist attacks” against Mr Cummings.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said her colleagues was “a champion in the Congress and the country for civil rights and economic justice, a beloved leader in Baltimore, and deeply valued colleague”.
She added: “We all reject racist attacks against him and support his steadfast leadership.”
Mr Trump also lambasted civil rights campaigner Al Sharpton for 25 years and had been friends with him, before labelling him a “troublemaker” and saying he “hates whites and cops”, while providing evidence for neither claim.
Rev. Sharpton said the president has a “particular venom for blacks and people of colour”.
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