An old video posted on Trump’s twitter shows House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings calling his community in Baltimore “drug-infested,” with inhabitants “walking around like zombies,” during a congressional hearing.
"This morning, I left my community of Baltimore -- a drug-infested area where a lot of the drugs we are talking about today have already taken the lives of so many children," he says in a video dated from 1999. "The same children that I watched 14 or 15 years ago as they grew up, now walking around like zombies."
The Radical Left Dems went after me for using the words “drug-infested” concerning Baltimore. Take a look at Elijah C. pic.twitter.com/E08ngbcw3d
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 31, 2019
The video was published online after a number of US media outlets attacked Trump for calling the city of Baltimore a “rat and rodent infested mess.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Trump's tweets "racist," without providing additional details. The tweets were also called “racist” by many media outlets, including Time magazine.
The tweets came in a response to Cummings, who is also a US Representative for Maryland’s 7th district - which includes Baltimore and a portion of Baltimore county - condemning conditions at US border detention facilities.
“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,” Trump tweeted on July 27. “As proven last week during a Congressional tour, the Border is clean, efficient & well run, just very crowded. Cumming [sic] 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.”
....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
Trump also accused Cummings of poor investigation into investment put into Baltimore that produced little effect.
“Baltimore’s numbers are the worst in the United States on Crime and the Economy. Billions of dollars have been pumped in over the years, but to no avail. The money was stolen or wasted. Ask Elijah Cummings where it went. He should investigate himself with his Oversight Committee!” he continued on July 30.
Baltimore’s numbers are the worst in the United States on Crime and the Economy. Billions of dollars have been pumped in over the years, but to no avail. The money was stolen or wasted. Ask Elijah Cummings where it went. He should investigate himself with his Oversight Committee!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 30, 2019
Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr, retweeted the video asking whether the House Oversight Chairman was the one being racist.
