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Trump calls on minority congresswomen to apologize and says they should ‘go back’ to their countries

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump on Monday called on a group of minority, liberal congresswomen to "apologize" to the United States, Israel and to him a day after he said in inflammatory tweets that they should "go back" to their countries.

From l-r., Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY., Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., take their seats to testify before the House Oversight Committee hearing on family separation and detention centers, Friday, July 12, 2019 on Capitol Hill in Washington.
From l-r., Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY., Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., take their seats to testify before the House Oversight Committee hearing on family separation and detention centers, Friday, July 12, 2019 on Capitol Hill in Washington.Read morePablo Martinez Monsivais / AP
    by John Wagner, Washington Post
    Published 

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump on Monday called on a group of minority, liberal congresswomen to "apologize" to the United States, Israel and to him a day after he said in inflammatory tweets that they should "go back" to their countries.

"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," Trump said in a new tweet Monday. "So many people are angry at them & their horrible & disgusting actions!"

With his latest tweet, Trump dug in further on a line of attack that has drawn widespread condemnation from Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who on Sunday called the president's comments "xenophobic." Republicans have remained largely silent.

Trump's tweets appeared to target four outspoken freshmen lawmakers who have been feuding with Pelosi: Democratic Reps. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.

Only one of them - Omar - was born outside the United States.

All four have called for Trump's impeachment. Tlaib has done so using profane language.

Earlier this year, Omar apologized after she was widely accused of anti-Semitic speech for suggesting that supporters of Israel's government have an "allegiance to a foreign country."

Trump's tweets on Sunday morning were sent before he headed to his golf club in Sterling, Virginia.

"So interesting to see 'Progressive' Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run," Trump tweeted.

"Why don't they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came," Trump added. "Then come back and show us how it is done."

Pressley was born in Cincinnati, Tlaib was born in Detroit and Ocasio-Cortez was born in New York. Omar was born in Mogadishu, Somalia; her family fled the country amid civil war when she was a child, and she became a U.S. citizen as a teenager.

Pelosi subsequently described Trump’s tweets as racist and divisive.

"When @realDonaldTrump tells four American Congresswomen to go back to their countries, he reaffirms his plan to 'Make America Great Again' has always been about making America white again," she said in a tweet. "Our diversity is our strength and our unity is our power."

The Washington Post’s Felicia Sonmez contributed to this report.