U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings says he scared away home intruder; Trump tweets ‘Too bad!’

BALTIMORE — U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings provided details Friday of a break-in at his Baltimore home last weekend, saying he scared the intruder away by yelling.

President Donald Trump alluded to the incident with a new tweet Friday morning: “Really bad news! The Baltimore house of Elijah Cummings was robbed. Too bad!”

Police had previously said only that the home in West Baltimore’s Druid Heights neighborhood was burglarized Saturday morning. The burglary occurred before Trump, a Republican, began a days-long Twitter attack on the Democratic congressman and the city of Baltimore that continues to dominate headlines and cause ripples in political circles.

In response to queries, Cummings issued a statement to The Baltimore Sun on Friday morning.

“An individual attempted to gain entry into my residence at approximately 3:40 AM on Saturday, July 27,” the statement said. “I was notified of the intrusion by my security system, and I scared the intruder away by yelling before the person gained entry into the residential portion of the house. I thank the Baltimore Police Department for their response and ask that all further inquiries be directed to them.”

There was no elaboration from the White House on Trump’s “Too bad!” tweet. In Twitter replies, many supporters of Cummings assumed the president was being satirical, and were critical of Trump for appearing to make light of a crime.

Among other things, Trump has tweeted previously about Baltimore crime and rat infestation, and said elected leaders aren’t doing enough to help.

“Those people are living in hell in Baltimore,” the president told reporters Tuesday.

Previously, he called Baltimore “the number one city, proportionately, in the United States on crime. I saw a statistic where it’s worse than Honduras right now.”

Trump began tweeting about Cummings shortly after 6 a.m. last Saturday.

“Rep, Elijah Cummings has been 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 … … ” the president said in one tweet.

State property records list the rowhouse as owned by the congressman and his wife, Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, chairwoman of the Maryland Democratic Party. She did not respond to messages left Thursday afternoon.

Andy Eichar, the congressman’s press secretary, initially referred questions to the city police, and said Cummings was unavailable for comment. Cummings then released the statement to The Sun on Friday morning.

Cummings was in Baltimore last weekend — as he is most weekends — and attended his usual church services at New Psalmist Baptist Church in Northwest Baltimore on Sunday.

The House is in recess this week and Cummings has been doing events in the district. He was at Stadium Place on Thursday at an event in which he spoke to senior citizens.