Alveda King On Baltimore: Trump Is ‘Simply Saying Your Communities Need To Be Fixed’

The niece of the civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. dismissed accusations Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s recent comments on Baltimore were racially motivated.

“What the president is simply saying is your communities need to be fixed,” Dr. Alveda King told Fox & Friends.

King and other black faith leaders met with Trump in the Oval Office on Monday to discuss the president’s ongoing criticism that Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland has done little to rectify deep-seated problems in his congressional district in Baltimore.

Trump had described Cummings’ congressional district, which includes parts of Baltimore, as a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess” after the congressman criticized the president’s detainment policy at the U.S.-Mexico border. This led to a response from Cummings that suggested he was only doing his job by holding the executive branch of government accountable.

King told Fox that Trump’s words to Cummings are about doing something to help a suffering community.

“You look at [Cummings’] community and you see individuals suffering, you see the community suffering, families suffering,” she said. (RELATED: Alveda King Compares Alabama Democrat To Margaret Sanger)

“All of us in that room, all the pastors, are working to reunite American families, strengthen the economy — we talked about all of those things and they were presented very well by the leaders of America,” King added.

King also said the talks focused on the president’s pro-life policies.

“We were concerned, almost mutually, about the sanctities of life and ending abortion and all that,” she said. “Because we feel there’s a correlation between not caring for the babies in the womb and then your communities, your individuals and everything will suffer.”