Donald Trump has doubled down on his vicious tweets attacking black congressman Elijah Cummings by retweeting far-right commentator Katie Hopkins and calling Mr Cummings "racist".
The US president described Mr Cummings' Baltimore district as a “filthy” and “rat and rodent infested mess” where “no human being would want to live”.
It comes after the US House judiciary committee asked a judge to force the release of grand jury evidence from the Mueller investigation, as four Washington members of Congress called for Mr Trump’s impeachment.
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Donald Trump was busy on Twitter last night criticising renewed calls for his impeachment and doubling down on his ‘rat-infested’ attack on black congressman Elijah Cummings.
He described the Mueller investigation as a "Democrat-inspired Witch Hunt" and claimed Democrats are "still doing the Russian's dirty work".
The US president is still refusing to apologise for his comments describing Elijah Cummings as a “brutal bully” from a “dangerous and filthy” district.
And the US president also took the time to retweet a number of Fox News clips.
Last night, Nancy Pelosi led Democratic representatives in defending Elijah Cummings and branded Mr Trump’s attack on the black congressman as “racist”.
The US president described Mr Cummings' Baltimore district as “filthy” and “a rat and rodent infested mess” where “no human being would want to live”.
Political commentators, including Vox journalist Aaron Rupar, have also pointed out that Mr Trump only uses the word “infestation” when referring to places where people of colour live. He has used the word in at least six tweets in reference to these areas.
Donald Trump has also drawn criticism for suggesting that the antifacist movement Antifa could be declared a terrorist organisation.
But a report by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) found that extremist-related murders in 2018 were “overwhelmingly linked to right-wing extremists”.
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Once again, Donald Trump has quoted a Fox News host in his latest tweet accusing Democrats of being "corrupt" and part of a "Deep State"...
Yesterday, the US president recirculated six clips and quotes from Fox News programmes as concerns grow over his cosy relationship with the TV network.
Commentators also linked Mr Trump’s tweets attacking Democratic congressman Elijah Cummings to a segment on the Fox & Friends show that morning.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration is trying to push through a proposal to end food stamp benefits for three million people.
The proposed regulation will prevent states from automatically enrolling residents who receive welfare benefits from enrolling on federal food assistance programmes.
This means families who earn more than 30 per cent over the federal poverty guidelines will not qualify for food assistance – meaning an estimated three million people will no longer receive food stamps.
Alongside growing calls for his impeachment, Donald Trumpalso faces a political fight to disclose his tax returns.
California governor Gavin Newsom is reportedly nearing the deadline to sign or veto a bill that would require presidential candidates to make their tax returns public before gaining a spot on the state's primary ballot.
The bill was vetoed by the governor’s predecessor Jerry Brown who cited constitutional concerns and the need to keep an open dialogue with the Trump administration for basic governmental issues.
Mr Newsom reportedly has until Tuesday to sign or veto the bill, Politico reported.
CNN anchor Victor Blackwell has given an emotional on-air response to Donald Trump’s latest public attack on his “rodent-infested” hometown of Baltimore.
He pointed out that the US president only uses the word “infestation” when referring to places where people of colour live.
“Donald Trump has tweeted more than 43,000 times, he’s insulted thousands of people many different types of people, but when he tweets about infestation it’s about black and brown people.”
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Donald Trump is now hitting back at Nancy Pelosi for “playing the race card” following his tweets attacking black congressman Elijah Cummings.
The US president described Mr Cummings' Baltimore district as “filthy” and “a rat and rodent infested mess” where “no human being would want to live”.
Mr Trump also took the opportunity to insult Ms Pelosi's San Francisco district...
The US president is refusing to back down on his criticism of Mr Cummings' Baltimore district, which he branded "filthy" and "rat-infested".
He also appears to be rattled by Mr Cummings' authority as the House Oversight Committee chairman to subpoena White House officials including Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.
Some commentators say it was the committee's decision to grant Mr Cummings this power earlier this week that provoked Mr Trump to attack the Maryland congressman.
The creator of The Wire has now joined the backlash against Donald Trump after he described his hometown of Baltimore as a “rat and rodent infested mess”.
David Simon said the US president would “wet himself” if he visited the city which he insulted in a tweet directed at congressman Elijah Cummings.
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The Baltimore Sun has issued a stinging response to Mr Trump’s attack on the city, comparing the US president to a trained dog.
“Slamming Baltimore must have been irresistible in a Pavlovian way,” the paper wrote. “Fox News rang the bell, the president salivated and his thumbs moved across his cellphone into action.”
The op-ed was titled “Better to have a few rats than be one”.
“If there are problems here, rodents included, they are as much his responsibility as anyone’s, perhaps more because he holds the most powerful office in the land,” the paper wrote.
Presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren has also condemned Mr Trump in the wake of his remarks describing Baltimore as “rat-infested”.
A top White House aide has defended Donald Trump's provocative tweets about Elijah Cummings.
Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, claimed that the president's comments about Baltimore and Mr Cummings were not racist in an interview on CBS.
Mr Mulvaney suggested that the president was upset over Elijah Cummings' criticism about conditions in which children are being held at the US-Mexico border.
"When the president hears lies like that, he's going to fight back," he said.
Later in the interview, he added: "I understand that everything that Donald Trump says is offensive to some people."
Michelle Obama has paid tribute to a Balitmore dance team, in an apparent rebuke of Donald Trump’s attack on the city’s congressman Elijah Cummings.
Ms Obama did not mention the US president in her tweet – but it came just hours after Mr Trump described Baltimore as “filthy” and “rat infested”.
Some commentators have pointed out that Donald Trump previously blamed Barack Obama for allowing Baltimore to remain “a total mess”.
Now Mr Trump is president, he appears to think that the city's alleged problems are no longer the result of presidential ineptitude –instead they are Congressman Elijah Cummings' responsibility.
“President Obama, you have a big job to do,” he tweeted in 2015. “Go to Baltimore and bring both sides together.”
He added: “Billions of dollars spent on Baltimore and it’s still a total mess.”
Amid the backlash over Donald Trump’s attack on Elijah Cummings, Jerry Nadler has said the US president “richly deserves impeachment”.
It’s an explosive statement from the US House judiciary committee chairman, who has the power to launch proceedings to remove the president from office.
And it comes days after the committee asked a judge to force the release of grand jury evidence from the Mueller investigation. The move is widely seen as a major step forward in the Democrats' legal fight against the US president.
2020 Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro has called Donald Trump the “biggest identity politician” of the last 50 years in the wake of his “rat-infested” attack on Elijah Cummings.
Mr Castro said Mr Trump engages in “racial priming” and gets people to “move into their camps by racial and ethnic identity”.
“That's how he thinks he won in 2016 and that's how he thinks he's going to win in 2020,” he added. I don't think it's a coincidence that just a few weeks ago he kicked off his 2020 campaign, and here we are with the same playbook that he used in 2016."
Republican senator Rick Scott has chosen to criticise Elijah Cummings rather than Donald Trump when asked about the president’s series of aggressive tweets yesterday.
When asked by NBC’s Chuck Todd if Mr Trump’s tweets showed presidential leadership, Mr Scott replied: “Look, I didn’t do the tweets, Chuck. I can’t talk about why he did what he did, but I’m very disappointed in the people like congressman Cummings, who is attacking Border Patrol agents…”
The Florida senator then went on to criticise the Democrats over border policy…
You can watch the clip below:
Earlier today, Democratic senator Chris Murphy announced he was going to unfollow the president’s Twitter account.
The reason? Because, in his opinion, Mr Trump’s feed is “the most hate-filled, racist, and demeaning” of all the accounts he follows and it “regularly ruins [his] day to read it”.
The request, filed on Friday, explicitly referenced congress’ impeachment powers and is a major step forward in the Democrats' legal fight against Mr Trump.
California Governor Gavin Newsom is also reportedly on the verge of a move that could force Mr Trump to release his tax returns if he wants to appear on the state’s ballot in the 2020 elections.
Meanwhile, political commentators have noted that Mr Trump has used the word "infested" six times on his Twitter account - and each time it has been in reference to areas populated predominantly by people of colour.
His attacks directed at Mr Cummings also appeared to have been inspired by a Fox & Friends report that aired minutes before the president’s outburst, which criticised living conditions in the Democratic congressman's Baltimore district.
Nancy Pelosi led Democratic representatives in defending Mr Cummings, accusing the US president of “racist attacks”.
