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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
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Cummings Confirms Attempted Burglary Before Trump Attacks

Early Saturday morning, hours before President Donald Trump went on a Twitter tirade directed at Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings and his majority-black, Baltimore-area district, someone tried to burglarize the congressman’s home.

WASHINGTON (CN) – Early Saturday morning, hours before President Donald Trump went on a Twitter tirade directed at Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings and his majority-black, Baltimore-area district, someone tried to burglarize the congressman’s home.

Although nothing was reported stolen and Cummings said he scared off the intruder, Trump took to his favorite social media platform Friday morning to react to the news.

“Really bad news! The Baltimore house of Elijah Cummings was robbed,” Trump tweeted. “Too bad!”

A CBS affiliate in Baltimore first reported Thursday that Cummings’ home had been broken into early last Saturday. A Baltimore police spokesperson said the incident took place around 3:40 a.m. and it is unknown if any property was taken.

Cummings confirmed the reports Friday morning in a statement.

"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," Cummings said. "I thank the Baltimore Police Department for their response and ask that all further inquiries be directed to them."

Trump’s Friday morning tweet comes less than a week after he blasted the black congressman, first calling him a “brutal bully, shouting and screaming at the great men & women of Border Patrol about conditions at the Southern Border.”

Two weeks ago, Cummings, who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, criticized Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan during a hearing on conditions at the U.S.-Mexico border.

“None of us would have our children in that position,” Cummings said in reference to reports of children in Customs and Border Patrol facilities sitting in their own feces without access to showers. Cummings has been a vocal proponent of improving conditions at makeshift facilities along the border.

But on Saturday, Trump claimed Cummings’ district – which encompasses western Baltimore along with affluent Howard and Hartford County suburbs like Catonsville and Ellicott City – is the worst in the country.

“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,” Trump tweeted.

The attack on Cummings came two weeks after another Twitter tirade, which the House condemned in a resolution as racist. The president had attacked four freshman Democratic congresswomen of color – Representatives lhan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan – saying they should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.” All four women are U.S. citizens.

This resolution did not stop the president from taking another jab at the four women, known as “the squad,” on Monday. The president said defending the positions of Cummings and the congresswomen would make it harder for Democrats to win in 2020.

A report released Friday by the Baltimore Police Department states the suspect in the attempted burglary – described as a 5-foot-9, 170-pound black male – entered through the first floor of the apartment complex through a door that is kept unlocked.

He then reportedly fled on a bicycle after being yelled at when he entered a second doorway leading to residential areas of the complex. The person who filed the report snapped photos of the suspect on her cellphone. The incident was not reported until nearly 9 a.m. Saturday

Categories / Government, National, Politics

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