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The Baltimore home of U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) was broken into early Saturday morning, police told WJZ-TV.
Image source: WJZ-TV video screenshot
The burglary in the 2000 block of Madison Avenue occurred around 3:40 a.m. — a little over three hours before President Donald Trump criticized Cummings as "a brutal bully, shouting and screaming at the great men & women of Border Patrol about conditions at the Southern Border, when actually his Baltimore district is FAR WORSE and more dangerous. His district is considered the Worst in the USA."
Trump also called Cummings' 7th Congressional District — which encompasses much of the city — a "disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess" and said "if he spent more time in Baltimore, maybe he could help clean up this very dangerous & filthy place."
While Democrats accused the president of racism over his tweets, a number of things have appeared to underscore Trump's claims:
- Baltimore had the highest homicide rate of all top 50 major U.S. cities in 2018, in addition to the second-highest overall violent crime rate in 2018, according to the Baltimore Sun.
- Surveillance video showed a Baltimore City Police Department civilian employee brutally beaten in the middle of a street in Cummings' district several days before Trump's tweets.
Image source: WJZ-TV video screenshot
- The city's deputy police commissioner and his wife were robbed at gunpoint July 19, WJZ-TV reported in a separate story.
- Former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh — who resigned in May amid a corruption scandal — just last year decried the "rats" and "dead animals" that plague Baltimore's worst neighborhoods.
- While campaigning for president in 2015, far-left U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Baltimore resembles a Third World nation.
- And for good measure, a Baltimore news station's camera this week caught a rat scurrying along the wall of an abandoned building during a live shot amid a report about "deeply offended" residents saying Trump's criticisms were "too harsh."
Image source: WBFF-TV video screenshot
Anything else?
In regard to the burglary of Cummings' residence, police told WJZ they don't know if any property was taken, and there are no suspects.
But one family who lives on the congressman's street told the station they captured some video footage on their doorbell camera.
A neighbor added to WJZ he's known Cummings for years and was shocked about the break-in: "Anything he can do to help this neighborhood he has been there for us."
