On Saturday, President Donald Trump described parts of Baltimore, Maryland, represented by Rep. Elijah Cummings as “the worst in the USA.”
… As proven last week during a Congressional tour, the Border is clean, efficient & well run, just very crowded. Cumming District is a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess. If he spent more time in Baltimore, maybe he could help clean up this very dangerous & filthy place
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 27, 2019
Cummings, who chairs the House Oversight Committee and leads multiple investigations of the president’s governmental dealings, took to Twitter to respond and said that he spends plenty of time in his district and fights for his neighbors.
Mr. President, I go home to my district daily. Each morning, I wake up, and I go and fight for my neighbors.
It is my constitutional duty to conduct oversight of the Executive Branch. But, it is my moral duty to fight for my constituents.
— Elijah E. Cummings (@RepCummings) July 27, 2019
Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., weighed in on the president’s comments, calling them outrageous.
“The president has been denigrating Baltimore since he was a candidate for president. He is attacking Congressman Cummings who’s devoted his lifetime to public service as a distraction to what Congress does on oversight,” Cardin told WTOP. “Congress has an important role for oversight. [The] President does not appreciate that at all, and it’s just outrageous what he does.”
We’ve seen @POTUS use this language to disparage proud American cities — like Baltimore — and members of Congress before. We see the pattern very clearly. #PresidentialDistractionhttps://t.co/V1kZXCBivh
— Senator Ben Cardin (@SenatorCardin) July 27, 2019
“Here’s another example on his attack on Congressman Cummings exercising his appropriate role as chairman of the Oversight Committee,” Cardin said.
Baltimore City Council President Brandon Scott also released a statement about the president’s tweets.
Scott told WTOP that he learned about the statements on Saturday morning when “some citizens of Baltimore sent me links to the tweets that the president unfortunately made.”
“Baltimore is a great city,” Scott said. But it’s like other cities across the country, he noted. “We face significant challenges and no one has been more committed to working to resolving those issues than Congressman Cummings,” Scott said.
“We can’t ignore that many of these issues have long existed and are the results of years of disinvestment, of inequity of systematic inequality. And for the president of the United States — someone who’s in a real position to help Baltimore address our most pressing needs — to just simply beat down an American city, he should be focused on how he can help and should be ashamed of the things that he actually said today. If the president is interested in real action beyond those tweets, we have a list of action items ready for him that I will personally deliver,” Scott said.
Other lawmakers who weighed in include Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Rep. Anthony Brown, D-Md., and Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski, who defended Cummings and Baltimore and chided the president’s words.
Baltimore is strong and resilient. The city has a proud history, and has been called home by many greats like Thurgood Marshall and @SpeakerPelosi.
The people of Baltimore have more grit, class, patriotism, and drive to improve this country every day than Donald Trump ever will.
— Anthony G. Brown (@RepAnthonyBrown) July 27, 2019
Baltimore is strong and resilient. The city has a proud history, and has been called home by many greats like Thurgood Marshall and @SpeakerPelosi.
The people of Baltimore have more grit, class, patriotism, and drive to improve this country every day than Donald Trump ever will.
— Anthony G. Brown (@RepAnthonyBrown) July 27, 2019
”President Trump’s most recent attack on Baltimore and Congressmen Cummings is an attack on basic decency. His words and behavior should have no place in our politics or society. pic.twitter.com/xV5x9My4MC
— County Executive Johnny Olszewski (@BaltCoExec) July 27, 2019
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
