President Trump said his tweet about the break-in at Rep. Elijah Cummings’ home “was not meant as a wise guy” comment.
“The tweet itself was just really a repeat of what I heard over the news. I know his house was robbed. I thought that was too bad. That was really just — that was not meant as a wise guy tweet. His house was robbed. It came over the news at a certain moment last night. I had just mentioned it,” Trump told reporters Friday afternoon.
Earlier in the day, Trump tweeted, “Really bad news! The Baltimore house of Elijah Cummings was robbed. Too bad!”
Over the past week Trump has issued a series of critical and mocking statements about the Democratic congressman. The president called Cummings a “brutal bully” and “racist” a week ago, while describing his majority-black district as a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess,” which he has defended against charges of racism.
Nikki Haley, who was Trump’s United Nations ambassador, scolded the president’s tweet before he expounded on its meaning. She called it “so unnecessary.” Adviser to the president Kellyanne Conway took a shot at Haley in response to her criticism of Trump, arguing that, “THIS is so unnecessary Trump-PENCE2020.”
