Watch: 1999 Video Shows Cummings Calling His Baltimore District ‘Drug-Infested’

Cummings Calls Baltimore Drug-Infested
CSPAN
Hannah Knudsen

A video has surfaced showing Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) in 1999 calling his own Baltimore district a “drug-infested” area. This follows days of left-wing backlash against President Trump, who called Cummings’ district a “very dangerous & filthy place.”

The Trump War Room shared the video Wednesday, which features Cummings painting his own district in a negative light, calling it a “drug-infested” area.

Cummings continued, adding that “a lot of the drugs we’re talking about today have already taken the lives of so many children– the same children that I watched 14 or 15 years ago as they grew up, now walking around like zombies.”

“This is only 40 miles away from here,” he added:

This follows days of leftist outrage sparked by Trump’s earlier tweets, in which he referred to Cummings’ district as a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess” and a “dangerous & filthy place.”:

Democrats across the board condemned Trump’s remarks and accused him of racism.

“@RepCummings is a champion in the Congress and the country for civil rights and economic justice, a beloved leader in Baltimore, and deeply valued colleague,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) wrote Saturday.

“We all reject racist attacks against him and support his steadfast leadership,” she added:

“Donald Trump once again is a racist who makes ever more outrageous racist remarks,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) declared:

“Hey haters, Baltimore is in America. If you’re defending @realDonaldTrump by pointing out what you think are flaws of Baltimore, you are trashing America,” former presidential candidate Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) added:

President Trump doubled down on his remarks, pointing out the city’s high crime stats and suggesting that Cummings use the Oversight Committee to “investigate himself.”

According to a 2015 Washington Free Beacon analysis, Baltimore received $1.8 billion from former President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to address homelessness, crime, and down-trodden neighborhoods. Despite that, the city has continued to struggle, particularly in terms of crime.

As Breitbart News reported:

Baltimore had the worst murder rate per capita in 2017, years after the Obama administration’s massive stimulus.
…

The violence continued, with Baltimore hitting a violent milestone last December–300 homicides. That made 2018 the “fourth year in a row where the dangerous city’s murder rate passed the 300-mark.” It appears to be on track to surpass 300 for the fifth year in a row, with 171 murders as of July 11, according to CBS Baltimore.

…

A Breitbart News analysis of 2018 homicide rates found that Baltimore’s homicide rate – 51 per 100,000 residents – was “higher than Honduras and nearly the same as in El Salvador.”

Additionally, Baltimore made Orkin’s Top Ten “Rattiest Cities” in 2018.

Earlier this week, another narrative-busting video surfaced, showing former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh touring a neighborhood in East Baltimore and exclaiming, “Whoa, you can smell the rats.”:

Trump addressed critics this week, stressing that he is the “least racist person there is anywhere in the world.”

“The White House, and myself, and letters and emails and phone calls, have received more phone calls than I think on any other subject, of people from Baltimore and other cities, corruptly run by Democrats, thanking me for getting involved,” Trump told reporters Tuesday.

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