Trump seems to make light of reports that Baltimore home of Cummings was burglarized - The Washington Post

President Trump on Friday seemed to make light of new reports that the Baltimore home of Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.) was burglarized hours before Trump started attacking him on Twitter last weekend.

“Really bad news! The Baltimore house of Elijah E. Cummings was robbed. Too bad!” Trump tweeted to his more than 62 million followers.

Trump appeared to be responding to news reports, including one broadcast on Fox News in the previous hour, that the residence of Cummings and his wife in West Baltimore’s Druid Heights neighborhood was burglarized early Saturday.

Later that morning, Trump took aim at Cummings on Twitter, calling him a “brutal bully” and claiming that conditions in his congressional district were far worse than those at the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump also attacked Baltimore as a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess.”

Trump continued to harshly criticize Cummings for much of the past week. Cummings chairs the House Oversight Committee, which is conducting an array of investigations of the Trump administration.

Later Friday, Cummings confirmed the reports of a break-in at his rowhouse in a statement issued by his office.

“An individual attempted to gain entry into my residence at approximately 3:40 AM on Saturday, July 27,” he said. “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.”

Cummings’s office did not comment on Trump’s tweet.

The tweet prompted outrage from Democrats and other critics of the president.

“Applauding a political opponent’s house getting robbed is impeachable, right?” tweeted Zac Petkanas, a Democratic strategist and former senior adviser to Hillary Clinton’s campaign in 2016.

“Or at least worthy of the 25th amendment?” he added, referring to the constitutional provision that outlines procedures for the Cabinet to remove a president from office if deemed incapacitated or unfit.

In a tweet, the conservative writer David Frum noted that the reported break-in at the home owned by Cummings occurred “before Trump’s ‘rat-infested’ attack upon him.”

“But the gloating afterward remains dangerous incitement,” Frum said.

During an appearance Friday on Fox News, White House spokesman Hogan Gidley dismissed those who have criticized Trump for his attacks on Baltimore and Cummings.

“For so long, people of Baltimore and around the region have said, ‘I wish someone would draw attention to the poverty, to the crime, the infestation of rodents in that town,” Gidley said. “And finally this president does, and they’re saying, ‘No, that’s not right.’”

Asked if Trump plans to visit the city, Gidley declined to say.

Let's block ads! (Why?)