"If he really thought I was a con man he would want me in his cabinet," tweeted Rev. Al Sharpton. | Amy Harris/Invision/AP White House Trump's Baltimore tirade expands to include Sanders, Sharpton The civil rights leader and Vermont senator are the latest targets of the president's frustration with the House Oversight Committee chairman.

President Donald Trump on Monday opened new fronts in the bitter tirade he launched over the weekend against Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings and the city of Baltimore, lobbing insults at civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

“I have known Al for 25 years. Went to fights with him & Don King, always got along well,” Trump wrote online, referencing the famed black boxing promoter.


“He ‘loved Trump!’ He would ask me for favors often,” the president wrote of Sharpton. “Al is a con man, a troublemaker, always looking for a score. Just doing his thing. Must have intimidated Comcast/NBC. Hates Whites & Cops!”

Trump’s insult accompanied a re-posted message from Sharpton, in which the reverend tweeted a picture of himself on what appeared to be an airport escalator and wrote: “Arrived in DC from Atlanta, headed to Baltimore. Long day but can’t stop.”

“Al Sharpton would always ask me to go to his events. He would say, ‘it’s a personal favor to me,’” Trump continued on Twitter later Monday morning. “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!”

Beginning Saturday, Trump has unloaded a steady torrent of vitriolic tweets targeting Cummings and Baltimore, which is partly included in the lawmaker’s predominantly black district. Cummings is chairman of the powerful House Committee on Oversight and Reform, and is overseeing several investigations into the administration.

“Baltimore, under the leadership of Elijah Cummings, has the worst Crime Statistics in the Nation. 25 years of all talk, no action!” Trump wrote Monday. “So tired of listening to the same old Bull. ... Next, Reverend Al will show up to complain & protest. Nothing will get done for the people in need. Sad!”

Sharpton responded to the president’s broadside in a tweet less than a half hour after the initial attack, posting a years-old picture of Trump speaking to him, Rev. Jesse Jackson and legendary soul musician James Brown at a convention of Sharpton’s National Action Network.

“Trump at NAN Convention 2006 telling James Brown and Jesse Jackson why he respects my work. Different tune now,” Sharpton wrote online.

"Trump says I’m a troublemaker & con man," he also tweeted. "I do make trouble for bigots. If he really thought I was a con man he would want me in his cabinet."

Sharpton continued pushing back against Trump from Baltimore during a previously scheduled discussion on home ownership in black communities with former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele. Sharpton told reporters at a news conference the president "has a particular venom for blacks and people of color," and Steele, who is black, called Trump's tweets "reprehensible."

The president on Monday also homed in on Sanders for negative assessments the Vermont senator made of living conditions in an underprivileged West Baltimore neighborhood when he visited the city in 2015.

"Crazy Bernie Sanders recently equated the City of Baltimore to a THIRD WORLD COUNTRY! Based on that statement, I assume that Bernie must now be labeled a Racist, just as a Republican would if he used that term and standard!" Trump wrote online.

"The fact is, Baltimore can be brought back, maybe even to new heights of success and glory, but not with King Elijah and that crew," he continued. "When the leaders of Baltimore want to see the City rise again, I am in a very beautiful oval shaped office waiting for your call!"



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Sanders replied on Twitter that "Trump's lies and racism never end," adding: "While I have been fighting to lift the people of Baltimore and elsewhere out of poverty with good paying jobs, housing and health care, he has been attacking workers and the poor."

Baltimore Mayor Bernard Young on Monday claimed Trump is interested only in "childish tweets," telling CNN that such outbursts are "below a president." Young, a Democrat, said his city is struggling as it awaits Trump's promised infrastructure legislation and that the president has yet to reach out to him regarding the proposal.

Maryland's Republican governor, Larry Hogan, also rebuked Trump on Monday, calling the president's posts "just outrageous and inappropriate" during an appearance on a Baltimore radio show.

"I think enough is enough. I mean, people are just completely fed up with this kind of nonsense," Hogan said. "And why are we not focused on solving the problems and getting to work, instead of who's tweeting what and who's calling who what kind of names? I mean, it’s just absurd."

Late Monday, however, Trump showed that he wasn’t done with the subject.

“Baltimore’s numbers are the worst in the United States on Crime and the Economy,” he tweeted . “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!”

The president's aggression toward Cummings follows widespread condemnation Trump has drawn from national Democrats in the past month for racist rhetoric aimed at a high-profile quartet of freshman lawmakers. The four progressive members of the so-called squad, all women of color, include Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.

“If the Democrats are going to defend the Radical Left ‘Squad’ and King Elijah’s Baltimore Fail, it will be a long road to 2020," Trump posted. "The good news for the Dems is that they have the Fake News Media in their pocket!”

Democratic White House hopefuls vying to take on Trump in 2020 weighed in Monday on the president's prolonged offensive. California Sen. Kamala Harris defended Sharpton online as an activist who "has spent his life fighting for what's right and working to improve our nation, even in the face of hate," and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren tweeted that he "has dedicated his life to the fight for justice for all."

“While [Sharpton] was pushing for justice in the teachings of Dr. King, Trump was calling for the execution of five innocent black boys,“ New York Mayor Bill de Blasio wrote online, referring to the president's campaign three decades ago to reinstate the death penalty amid the “Central Park Five” case.

Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., posted on Twitter that Trump's "continuing racist attacks" on Baltimore "are part of his project to divide America: white versus black, rural versus urban. A president should serve all Americans. This one is busy weakening our country."

Rishika Dugyala contributed to this report.