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Donald Trump characterised Elijah Cummings’ Baltimore-based congressional district as a “rodent infested mess” where “no human” would want to live, in a now-viral tweetstorm on Saturday.

His criticism rang with a particular irony in Baltimore County, where the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner owns more than a dozen apartment complexes that have been cited with hundreds of code violations and, critics say, provide sub-standard housing to lower income tenants.

In an interview on Saturday, Baltimore County Executive John Olszewski Jr condemned Mr Trump’s comments as “an attack on basic decency”.

“It is certainly ironic that the president’s own son-in-law was complicit in contributing to some of the neglect that the president purports to be so concerned about,” Mr Olszewski, a Democrat, added.

Kushner Companies, which started operating in Maryland in 2013, has owned almost 9,000 rental units across 17 complexes, many of them in Baltimore County, the Baltimore Sun reported earlier this year.

The properties generate at least $90m (£72m) in revenue annually. Mr Kushner stepped down as CEO of the company in 2017, when he became a senior White House advisor.

A company spokesperson did not address questions on Sunday about whether the group agreed with Mr Trump’s characterisation of the area, but wrote: “Kushner Companies is proud to own thousands of apartments in the Baltimore area.”

In 2017, Baltimore County officials revealed that apartments owned by Kushner Cos were responsible for more than 200 code violations, all accrued in the span of the calendar year.

Repairs were made only after the county threatened fines, local officials said, and even after warnings, violations on nine properties were not addressed, resulting in monetary sanctions.

In an investigation by the New York Times and Pro Publica published earlier that year, tenants of Kushner Cos properties reported mouse infestations, mould problems and maggots.

A private investigator who looked into Mr Kusher’s property management company, Westminster Management, described them as “slumlords”.

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