News broke yesterday that Rep. Elijah Cummings‘ (D-MD) Baltimore home was nearly broken into over the weekend and instead of offering his support, President Trump decided to taunt the congressman.
The president’s first tweet of the day expressed the commander-in-chief’s apparent glee over Cummings’ misfortune.
“Really bad news! The Baltimore house of Elijah Cummings was robbed,” Trump tweeted. “Too bad!”
SPIN reached out to the White House for to ask if the president is indeed happy that a sitting congressman was the victim of a break-in.
Really bad news! The Baltimore house of Elijah Cummings was robbed. Too bad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 2, 2019
Rep. Cummings told the Baltimore Sun Friday morning that he managed to thwart the burglary attempt by scaring away the intruder.
“An individual attempted to gain entry into my residence at approximately 3:40 AM on Saturday, July 27,” Cummings said in a statement issued to the Sun. “I was notified of the intrusion by my security system, and I scared the intruder away by yelling before the person gained entry into the residential portion of the house. I thank the Baltimore Police Department for their response and ask that all further inquiries be directed to them.”
SPIN reached out to Cummings’ rep for comment on the president’s tweet and we’ll update if we hear back.
Trump’s tweet is the latest in a series of racist attacks against Cummings and his district, which includes West Baltimore. On Tuesday, Trump defended calling Baltimore a “a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess” by by making the baffling claim that “the African-American community” called the White House to thank Trump for trashing the majority black city.
UPDATE 5:05 PM : When asked about his intention behind the tweet at a brief press gaggle on Friday afternoon, the president insisted that he wasn’t gloating, but merely tweeting a statement of fact when he wrote that it was “too bad” that Rep. Cummings was the victim of a home invasion.
Trump on tweet that many read as celebrating an attempted burglary at Elijah Cummings's house: "The tweet itself was just really a repeat of what I heard over the news. I know his house was robbed, and I thought that was too bad. That was really not meant as a wise guy tweet." pic.twitter.com/vPIZWs0Tc4
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 2, 2019
