WASHINGTON • US President Donald Trump yesterday pressured fellow Republicans not to back a House Democrats' resolution to condemn his repeated attacks on four minority congresswomen, saying he was not a racist and tying the issue to his 2020 re-election bid.
"Those Tweets were NOT Racist. I don't have a Racist bone in my body!" Mr Trump tweeted, as lawmakers prepared to vote on a resolution condemning his "racist comments".
"The so-called vote to be taken is a Democrat con game. Republicans should not show 'weakness' and fall into their trap," he added.
Mr Trump's latest comments came after he again doubled down on his attacks against the congresswomen on Monday, prompting outrage from the Democrats, who then moved to condemn him in the House of Representatives.
A draft of the resolution, seen by Reuters late on Monday, said the House "strongly condemns President Donald Trump's racist comments that have legitimised and increased fear and hatred of new Americans and people of colour".
Those remarks followed his Twitter messages on Sunday, taken to be aimed at the four left-wing lawmakers known in Congress as "the squad", that they should go back to "the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came".
All four of the first-term House members are US citizens and all but one were born in the United States. "If you're not happy in the US, if you're complaining all the time, very simply: You can leave," Mr Trump said at the White House, drawing scattered applause from a crowd of business people.
Mr Trump did not identify the lawmakers by name in his Sunday tweets, but he appeared to refer to representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.
When asked if he was concerned that some viewed his remarks as racist and that white supremacists had found common cause with him, Mr Trump said on Monday he was not, claiming: "It doesn't concern me because many people agree with me."
The President's remarks were widely derided and some, though not many, of his fellow Republicans spoke out against them.
At a press conference on Capitol Hill on Monday, the four lawmakers said Mr Trump was trying to sow division and distract attention from what they characterised as his failed policies on immigration, healthcare and taxation.
"Weak minds and leaders challenge loyalty to our country in order to avoid challenging and debating the policy," Ms Ocasio-Cortez said.
Ms Tlaib and Ms Omar repeated their calls for Mr Trump to be impeached.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has been criticised by members of "the squad", condemned Mr Trump's "xenophobic tweets".
Mr Trump's attacks elevated the profiles of the four Democrats, who have helped push the party's agenda to the left, causing concern among party moderates who are eager to hold on to their seats in the 2020 election.
The resolution brought by the Democrats could put Mr Trump's fellow Republicans in Congress in an awkward position, forcing them either to vote against their party's leader or effectively defend his statements.
Although most Republicans stayed silent on Mr Trump's divisive rhetoric, several began expressing concern late on Monday.
Texas Representative Will Hurd, the only African-American Republican in the House, called the attacks "racist" on CNN, and Mr Tim Scott, the Senate's only black Republican, said on Twitter that the remarks were "racially offensive".
Others did not go that far.
Senator Mitt Romney, the party's 2012 presidential nominee, and Senator Marco Rubio, who ran in the 2016 contest, condemned the remarks but declined to characterise them as racist.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
