President Donald Trump lashed out again Monday at progressive Democratic congresswomen he attacked over the weekend in tweets that were widely condemned as racist.
Speaking to the press Monday afternoon, Trump falsely accused Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, one of the first two Muslim women ever elected to Congress, “of speaking about how wonderful Al Qaeda is,” and baselessly claimed that she “hates Jews.”
In his initial attack on Sunday, Trump said the congresswomen came from corrupt, poorly managed countries to which they should return.
“Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came,” Trump said.
The tweets were aimed at a group of young, outspoken, liberal women of color, all first-time members of the House of Representatives. These include Omar, who represents Minnesota, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts.
All but one of the four women were born in the U.S. Omar fled war-torn Somalia as a child and came to the United States as a refugee.
They “originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world,” Trump tweeted.
He accused the women of “viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run.”
Early on Monday, Trump followed up with a series on new tweets, doubling down on his remarks from Sunday.
“When will the Radical Left Congresswomen apologize to our Country, the people of Israel and even to the Office of the President, for the foul language they have used, and the terrible things they have said,” he Twitted.
Democratic presidential candidates and senior legislators branded the comments racist and xenophobic.
Trump last year reportedly referred to countries in Africa as “shithole” nations, and has often described the influx of U.S.-bound migrants as an “invasion.”
He was also a leading proponent of the “birther” conspiracy theory that Barack Obama was not born on U.S. soil and therefore could not legally be president.
Outgoing British Prime Minister Theresa May on Monday condemned Trump’s tweets as “completely unacceptable.”
So far, few Republican figures have spoken out against Trump’s comments.
“Until Republican officials denounce yesterday’s explicitly racist statements (which should be easy!), we sadly have no choice but to assume they condone it,” Occasio-Cortez tweeted Monday.
Earlier on the same day, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham defended the president’s remarks, falsely claiming the congresswomen are “communists” and that they are “anti-America.”