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Agence France-Presse

A top White House aide has defended the US President Donald Trump after he attacked a prominent African-American lawmaker and branded his majority-black Baltimore district an “infested mess”.
Acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said Trump displayed a justified response to Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings’ criticism about conditions in which children were being held in detention at the US-Mexico border.
Mulvaney told Fox News on Sunday that “when the president hears lies like that, he’s going to fight back”.
At a hearing last week, Cummings accused a top administration official of wrongly calling reports of filthy, overcrowded border facilities “unsubstantiated”.




Mulvaney denied that Trump’s Twitter comments on Saturday were racist and said Trump would criticise any lawmaker who spoke unfairly about his policies.
“Cumming [sic] District is a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess,” the president wrote, calling it “the worst run and most dangerous anywhere in the United States”.
“No human being would want to live there,” Trump said.
“Rep. Elijah Cummings has been a brutal bully, shouting and screaming at the great men & women of Border Patrol about conditions at the Southern Border, when actually his Baltimore district is FAR WORSE and more dangerous,” the US president charged.
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Trump’s morning diatribe ignited a storm of criticism, less than two weeks after the US House of Representatives condemned him for “racist” comments targeting a Somali-born lawmaker.
The top Democrat in Congress, Nancy Pelosi – whose father served as mayor of Baltimore –accused Trump of a “racist” attack.
“@RepCummings is a champion in the Congress and the country for civil rights and economic justice, a beloved leader in Baltimore, and deeply valued colleague,” Pelosi wrote on Twitter.
“We all reject racist attacks against him and support his steadfast leadership.”

....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

The Democratic mayor of Baltimore Bernard “Jack” Young – who is black – rejected Trump’s rhetoric as “hurtful and dangerous”.
“It’s completely unacceptable for the political leader of our country to denigrate a vibrant American City like Baltimore, and to viciously attack US Representative Elijah Cummings,” Young wrote in a statement.
Prominent Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, tweeted that she was “proud” to have her 2020 campaign headquarters in the Cummings district.
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“It’s disgraceful the president has chosen to start his morning disparaging this great American city,” said Harris, one of two leading black candidates in the race to succeed Trump.
Cummings himself tweeted: “Mr. President, I go home to my district daily. Each morning, I wake up, and I go and fight for my neighbours. It is my constitutional duty to conduct oversight of the Executive Branch. But it is my moral duty to fight for my constituents.”
The immediate trigger for Trump’s comments was unclear, but less than an hour before the tweets Fox & Friends, a morning television show the president is known to watch, aired a segment on Cummings and his Congressional district.

There could be a more personal component, though: the House Oversight Committee authorised Cummings to subpoena work-related emails and texts sent by White House officials, including Trump’s daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, on their personal accounts.
As chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Cummings – one of the most prominent African Americans in Congress – has launched investigations into Trump administration policies, including reports of poor treatment at migrant detention centres.
Earlier this month Cummings called the treatment of migrant children at detention facilities on the US-Mexico border “government sponsored child abuse”.




Trump’s attack was reminiscent of his recent, racially-charged criticism of four young Democratic lawmakers, all women of colour, who he suggested should “go back” to the “crime infested” places they came from.
In fact, three were born in the US and all four are American citizens.
Baltimore, a historic port city, presents a mixed picture, with both handsome and affluent neighbourhoods and large poverty-stricken districts.
It has one of the country’s highest murder rates.
Cummings’ district is more than 50 per cent African-American – and the city of Baltimore as whole more than 60 per cent.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg, AP


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Donald Trump

Donald Trump branded a racist after declaring mostly-black US city of Baltimore a ‘rat-infested mess’ in Twitter attack against lawmaker Elijah Cummings

Elijah Cummings is one of the most prominent African Americans in Congress. Photo: AP

Aerial of Downtown Baltimore, Maryland from The Mount Vernon Place - Image

US Supreme Court clears US$2.5 billion in Pentagon funds for Donald Trump’s border ‘wall’

President Donald Trump looks at border wall prototypes in California last March. Photo: TNS

epa07704447 A group of people try may their way over a section of the border wall to enter the US, from Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, 08 July 2019. According to the National Institute of Migration, Mexico has over 18,500 Central American migrants waiting for their asylum to be processed in the United States. EPA-EFE/DAVID PEINADO

In this image provided by the Supreme Court, President Donald Trump poses for a photo with Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh in the Justices' Conference Room before a investiture ceremony Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018, at the Supreme Court in Washington. From left are, Associate Justices Neil Gorsuch, Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen Breyer, Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts, Jr., President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Ashley Kavanaugh, and Associate Justices Samuel Alito, Jr. and Elena Kagan. (Fred Schilling/Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States via AP)

Trump-Russia report did not exonerate US president of obstruction of justice, Robert Mueller says

Robert Mueller testifies before the House Select Committee on Intelligence in Washington on Wednesday. Photo: Washington Post photo by Matt McClain

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 24: Ranking member Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) speaks during a hearing former Special Counsel Robert Mueller testifies before the House Intelligence Committee about his report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election in the Rayburn House Office Building July 24, 2019 in Washington, DC. Mueller testified earlier in the day before the House Judiciary Committee in back-to-back hearings on Capitol Hill. Alex Wong/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 24: Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) questions former Special Counsel Robert Mueller as he testifies about his report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election in the Rayburn House Office Building July 24, 2019 in Washington, DC. Mueller, along with former Deputy Special Counsel Aaron Zebley, will later testify before the House Intelligence Committee in back-to-back hearings on Capitol Hill. Win McNamee/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 24: Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller testifies before the House Judiciary Committee about his report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election in the Rayburn House Office Building July 24, 2019 in Washington, DC. Mueller, along with former Deputy Special Counsel Aaron Zebley, will later testify before the House Intelligence Committee in back-to-back hearings on Capitol Hill. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

Robert Mueller testifies before the House Select Committee on Intelligence in Washington on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

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Trump’s comments came in a series of three Twitter messages early Saturday
The outburst came two weeks after Trump told four congresswomen of colour they should ‘go back’ to the countries they came from


Acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney says US President Donald Trump’s attacks on a prominent African-American critic, and his remarks about the majority-black district of Baltimore, are not racist.
