Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
■ President Donald Trump in tweets attacked Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings and his Baltimore-area district.
Cummings leading probes of president
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Saturday denigrated a majority-black district represented by a congressional nemesis as a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess.”
Trump lashed out in tweets against Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., the powerful House Oversight Committee chairman, claiming his Baltimore-area district is “considered the worst run and most dangerous anywhere in the United States.”
Cummings leads multiple investigations of the president’s governmental dealings.
Trump called Cummings a “brutal bully” after his public tongue-lashing of top Homeland Security officials over conditions for migrants detained along the southern border.
“As proven last week during a Congressional tour, the Border is clean, efficient & well run, just very crowded,” Trump tweeted. “Cumming District is a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess.”
Cummings replied directly to Trump on Twitter, saying, “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.”
Trump later renewed his attack on Cummings.
“Elijah Cummings spends all of his time trying to hurt innocent people through ‘Oversight,’” the president tweeted.
A spokesman for Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, defended the area and its residents.
In an email, Michael Ricci wrote, “Baltimore City is truly the very heart of our state, and more attacks between politicians aren’t going to get us anywhere.”
Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford, also a Republican, addressed Trump in a tweet. “I have substantial policy differences” with Cummings, he wrote. “However, I hope your criticism is not directed at the many good and hard working people who live in the district.”