‘Uncle Elijah? Are they going to put us in cages?’ Rep. Cummings surfaces to defend Baltimore and share family fears following Trump’s attacks on his district and blasts ‘racist language’ that encourages ‘reprehensible behavior’
- Rep. Elijah Cummings spoke at the National Press Club
- It was his first major public appearance since Donald Trump’s attacks on Baltimore
- He shared his 10-year-old niece’s concern about being put ‘in cages’
- Called for ‘decency and respect’
- Blasted ‘hateful rhetoric’ from top officials
- Trump blasted his ‘rat-infested’ district
- As Oversight chair Cummings is probing Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner’s security clearances
- Cummings said he gets weekly death threats
Rep. Elijah Cummings resurfaced Wednesday to defend his Baltimore neighbors following President Donald Trump’s attacks on his hometown as he condemn ‘racist’ language from high officials.
The Maryland Democrat spoke at length for the first time since Trump unloaded on his ‘rat-infested’ congressional district, in a pre-planned speech at the National Press Club.
He called Baltimore citizens ‘the most determined, hardworking and deserving people I know,’ and denounced ‘blatant attempts to attack my community in Baltimore.’
Rep. Elijah Cummings at the National Press Club on August 7, 2019 and defended his home town of Baltimore
‘People, anyone – and especially our national leaders – should be proud to commend as their countrymen and women. They are no different than people of Texas or Ohio or anywhere else in our great nation,’ said Cummings.
‘Baltimore is a beautify city,’ he said. ‘We work hard every day.’
The powerful House Oversight committee chairman, a son of sharecroppers, defended his probes of the Trump Administration, offered his prayers to families of victims of the Dayton and El Paso shootings, and relayed the fears his 10-year old niece shared with him amid charged attacks.
‘Uncle Elijah? Are they going to put us in cages?’ Cummings said she asked him. ‘Are going to put us in cages? That’s coming from a 10 year old. We are better than that!’ he intoned.
‘What bothers me the most is that we have people stepping on the hopes of our children and the hopes of our people,’ he said.
Cummings said he gets weekly death threats
Congressman Elijah Cummings speaks at the grand opening of the McCullough Street Nature Play Space in West Baltimore on Saturday, Aug. 3, 2019. Cummings on Saturday invited President Donald Trump and other Americans to Baltimore, taking the high road after a barrage of presidential tweets disparaging the black-majority city and its long-serving Democratic congressman
Without naming names, Cummings also tied incendiary rhetoric to a spate of mass shootings. The El Paso shooter wrote a sick manifesto that referenced an immigrant ‘invasion.’
‘Those in highest levels of government must stop invoking fear using racist language and encouraging reprehensible behavior. It only creates more division among us,’ said Cummings.
Cummings spoke as Trump traveled to Ohio and Texas
‘We are done with the hateful rhetoric. We are done with the mass shootings. We are done with the white supremacist domestic terrorists who are terrorizing our country.’
He defended his probes, and said he would ferret out ‘waste fraud and abuse’ in the Trump administration, but did not mention his probe how the president’s daughter and son-in-law got and maintained security clearances.
He lamented a ‘delay and stonewall approach’ by the Trump administration, which has been holding back documents.
Cummings said Congress should come back in session to pass gun control. ‘You’ve got people dying. Come one now. People are dying,’ he said during a Q&A period.
‘It’s rarely that I go through a week without getting a death threat,’ Cummings said.
He said he wants the president to come to his district, but says he ‘can’t get to him.’ Then he said he wanted him to go to Baltimore County where the ‘richest of the rich’ are. He said he would drive with the president for hours.