An aide to President Trump said that the Baltimore region has squandered billions of dollars in federal grants given by the administration.
‘President Trump has given $16billion in 2018 alone to Elijah Cummings’ district in federal grants,’ Lynne Patton, a regional administrator with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, told Fox News on Monday.
‘We have given more money in homeless funds to Baltimore than the last administration’ as well as ‘community development grants,’ according to Patton.
She then took Cummings and the city leadership, including Mayor Bernard Young, to task, asking: ‘What are you actually doing with the money so that it benefits residents in the community for once instead of deep-pocket, crooked politicians?’
MUST WATCH: @LynnePatton on Baltimore
"President @realDonaldTrump has given $16B in 2018 ALONE to Elijah Cummings's district in federal grants..."
Where did it go?
8,379 people are talking about this
Lynne Patton, a regional administrator with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, accused Baltimore's leadership of squandering billions in federal aide provided by the Trump administration
Patton made the remarks amidst the simmering feud between President Trump and House Rep. Elijah Cummings (above), the chairman of the House Oversight Committee
The president late Monday continued to tweet critically about Cummings, the Democrat who represents Maryland's seventh congressional district
![‘Elijah Cummings never even went to the Southern Border and then he screams at the very good people who, despite Congresses [sic] failure to fix the Loopholes and Asylum, make it work (crossings are way down and the Wall is being built),’ the president tweeted on Monday.](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/07/30/06/16658982-7299907-image-a-32_1564464200678.jpg)
‘Elijah Cummings never even went to the Southern Border and then he screams at the very good people who, despite Congresses [sic] failure to fix the Loopholes and Asylum, make it work (crossings are way down and the Wall is being built),’ the president tweeted on Monday.
Trump then tweeted: ‘Baltimore’s numbers are the worst in the United States on Crime and the Economy.'
Trump then tweeted a quote by Kimberly Klacik, a Republican and Baltimore resident. ‘I don’t know what it’s going to take,’ the quote read. ‘A lot of Democratic run cities all over America look like this, it’s not just Baltimore, unfortunately.’
Cummings' district received just under $15.7billion in grants, benefits, and other aide from the federal government during fiscal year 2018, according to the Baltimore Sun.
The district, which includes just over half of Baltimore City, most of the majority African American areas of Baltimore County, and most of Howard County, is more well off than the administration claims.
The district is the second-wealthiest majority-black district in the country, with a $58,000 median household income, according to data journalist Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com.
Silver cited data from the Biggest US Cities web site.
Patton was appointed to her current position after she helped run Eric Trump's charity foundation and spent eight years working closely Trump family members.
Patton oversaw millions of dollars as a vice president at the Eric Trump Foundation, a charity effort Eric Trump suspended after his dad won the White House.
She forged close friendships and bonds with Trump family members in a variety of roles – and cut a 5 minute video during the campaign that passionately defended Donald Trump from 'repeated and reprehensible' attempts to connect him to 'hate-mongering groups.'
Earlier on Monday, Trump took aim at the Rev. Al Sharpton, who traveled to Baltimore in the wake of the president's tweets aimed at Cummings. Sharpton, seen above in Baltimore on Monday, shot back Trump 'has a particular venom for blacks and people of color'
Her comments are the latest salvo in the days long simmering feud between the president and his supporters on one side and Democratic Party officials and backers on the other.
Trump in recent days has singled out Cummings, the Democratic congressman who heads the House Oversight Committee, for what he claims are decrepit conditions in Maryland’s seventh congressional district which he represents.
The district encompasses half of Baltimore as well as surrounding suburbs.
The president has been slammed by critics for racism after he referred to Baltimore as ‘a rodent infested mess’ where ‘no human being’ would want to live.
Trump has attacked Cummings, whose committee is investigating the administration.
On Monday, the president continued to post critical tweets of Cummings.
‘Elijah Cummings never even went to the Southern Border and then he screams at the very good people who, despite Congresses [sic] failure to fix the Loopholes and Asylum, make it work (crossings are way down and the Wall is being built),’ the president tweeted on Monday.
‘Even with zero Dem help, Border getting strong!’
Trump was referring to a House Oversight Committee hearing from earlier this month during which Cummings grilled Kevin McAleenan, the acting homeland security secretary, over conditions at migrant detention centers near the southern border.
Trump then tweeted: ‘Baltimore’s numbers are the worst in the United States on Crime and the Economy.
‘Billions of dollars have been pumped in over the years, but to no avail.
‘The money was stolen or wasted. Ask Elijah Cummings where it went.
‘He should investigate himself with his Oversight Committee!’
Trump then tweeted a quote by Kimberly Klacik, a Republican and Baltimore resident.
‘I don’t know what it’s going to take,’ the quote read.
‘A lot of Democratic run cities all over America look like this, it’s not just Baltimore, unfortunately.’
Trump then tweeted: ‘Remember, Vote for Trump, what the h.... do you have to lose? Best unemployment numbers!’
The president aimed that remark at African American voters, most of whom traditionally support Democrats.
The row over Baltimore has also embroiled the Rev. Al Sharpton, the former civil rights leader who is now a commentator on the left-leaning cable network MSNBC.
Trump and Sharpton engaged in a war of words on Monday with the president claiming he hates 'whites & cops' while the famed black activist arrived in Baltimore to defend Cummings and charge Trump with having 'a particular venom for blacks and people of color.'
Trump went the attack after Sharpton tweeted he was on his way to Baltimore to defend the Democratic lawmaker after the president lashed out against him.
'I have known Al for 25 years. Went to fights with him & Don King, always got along well. He 'loved Trump!' He would ask me for favors often. Al is a con man, a troublemaker, always looking for a score. Just doing his thing. Must have intimidated Comcast/NBC. Hates Whites & Cops!,' the president tweeted.
His attack came shortly before Sharpton hosted a press conference in Baltimore with former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, an African American politician who also served as lieutenant governor of Maryland.
'He attacks everybody. I know Donald Trump. He's not mature enough to take criticism. He's like a child,' Sharpton said at the event.
'But he has a particular venom for blacks and people of color. He doesn't refer to any of his other opponents or critics as 'infested.' He does not attack their districts. He attacks Nancy Pelosi. He attacks Chuck Schumer. He attacks other whites but never said their districts or states are places no human being wants to live,' he added.
The report alleges that Trump's inauguration committee chairman Tom Barrack sought to benefit from pushing the president to make a plan with Saudi Arabia to build nuclear power plants
In an early morning Twitter rant, Trump raged against Sharpton, Cummings and 'the radical left 'squad'' - a group of minority Democratic lawmakers made up of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley.
The president also claimed Sharpton apologized to him during a Trump Tower visit during the 2016 presidential election.
'Al Sharpton would always ask me to go to his events. He would say, 'it's a personal favor to me.' Seldom, but sometimes, I would go. It was fine. He came to my office in T.T. during the presidential campaign to apologize for the way he was talking about me. Just a conman at work!,' the president tweeted.
Trump did not specify what Sharpton apologized for but the activist was critical of Trump's campaign, telling Politico at the time that the Republican nominee had a 'complete disregard and disrespect for addressing' black voters and their issues.
Sharpton responded to the early morning attack with a tweet of his own, sharing a photo from 2006 featuring him, Trump, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and singer James Brown.
'Trump at NAN Convention 2006 telling James Brown and Jesse Jackson why he respects my work. Different tune now,' he wrote.
He later tweeted: 'Trump says I'm a troublemaker & con man. I do make trouble for bigots. If he really thought I was a con man he would want me in his cabinet.'
And Sharpton told MSNBC Monday morning that 'I intend to make trouble every time racists and bigots move around in any way shape or form, including the president.'
Cummings, meanwhile, appears to be undeterred by Trump's attacks.
Earlier on Monday, the Maryland rep released a congressional report Monday accusing Donald Trump's inauguration committee chairman of trying to financially benefit from pushing Trump to strike a deal with Saudi Arabia.
The Democrat representative's release of the staff report for the Oversight Committee regarding Tom Barrack is another escalation in his feud with the president.
The report also comes on the same day The New York Times published an article on the continued efforts from federal investigators looking into Barrack's foreign contacts and how they may have influenced Trump's campaign, transition and early administration.
'Today's report reveals new and extensive evidence that corroborates Committee whistle-blowers and exposes how corporate and foreign interests are using their unique access to advocate for the transfer of U.S. nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia,' Cummings said of the new information.
According to the 50-page report, Barrack, a billionaire ally of Trump, pursued a plan to buy Westinghouse Electric Corp at the same time he was trying to convince the president to make him a special envoy to promote the firm building nuclear power plants in Saudi Arabia.
Trump sent several tweets attacking the Oversight chairman and the city he represents in Congress
Barrack failed to acquire Westinghouse and also failed in lobbying to become a special envoy for Trump. The report, however, reveals evidence that foreign interests were able to gain access to Trump through his allies and senior members of his administration.
'These new documents raise serious questions about whether the White House is willing to place the potential profits of the President's friends above the national security of the American people and the universal objective of preventing the spread of nuclear weapons,' the report read.
According to the report, it relied on 60,000 documents and several statements from whistle blowers within the administration.
The report comes while several other investigations into Trump's administration continue, even though Robert Mueller closed the special counsel's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential elections.
There are concerns from multiple House committees over foreign entities' abilities to influence this administration.
The Times report showed that federal investigators already looked into whether Barrack allowed Persian Gulf contacts to edit the language of a speech Trump delivered on the campaign trail.
Barrack was coordinating with his contacts, which included Emirati businessman Rashid al-Malik, to draft an energy policy speech Trump was preparing to give in May 2016. Al-Malik is close with United Arab Emirates rulers.
Paul Manafort, Trump's 2016 campaign Chairman, emailed Barrack to ask if he was running the speech by 'our friends,' in reference to these contacts in the Persian Gulf.
'Are you running this by our friends?' Manafort asked Barrack in a previously undisclosed email, the Times reported.
Manafort's real estate and investment firm conducts business in the Middle East. The former Trump campaign chairman is now a convicted felon.
No comments:
Post a Comment