Trump under fire for racially-charged tweets against congresswomen

He claimed the women "originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe", before suggesting they "go back".

He then said Speaker Nancy Pelosi "would be very happy to quickly work out free travel arrangements".

It comes a week after Ms Pelosi clashed with "the squad", a group of four left-wing Democratic women of colour.

Of the four congresswomen, three - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley - were born and raised in the US, while the fourth, Ilhan Omar, moved to the US as a child.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez was born in the Bronx in New York, approximately 12 miles away from the Queens hospital where Mr Trump himself was born.

What did the president say?

In a three-tweet thread, Mr Trump accused the congresswomen of "viciously" criticising him and the US.

He wrote: "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.

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

"These places need your help badly, you can't leave fast enough. I'm sure that Nancy Pelosi would be very happy to quickly work out free travel arrangements!"
 

He did not explicitly name the congresswomen he was talking about.

However, from the reference to Ms Pelosi it has widely been assumed he was referring to Ms Ocasio-Cortez, Ms Tlaib, Ms Pressley and Ms Omar.

Over the past week Ms Pelosi has clashed with Ms Ocasio-Cortez, who accused her of singling out women of colour for criticism following disagreement between Democrats over a border security bill.

What has the response been?

Ms Pelosi, Speaker of the House, quoted Mr Trump's tweets and described them as "xenophobic".

"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.

"Our diversity is our strength and our unity is our power," she added.

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