US President Donald Trump denied Wednesday that he was racist because he refused to back down in his war of words with leaders of leftist and African origins.
"I am the least racist, anywhere in the world," the president told reporters at the White House.
In the past two weeks, Trump has attacked four female minority Democrats, an African-American representative of Baltimore and a civil rights defender.
Trump, in a tweet last Saturday, criticized parliamentarian Elijah Cummings, claiming his Baltimore neighborhood was "disgusting, rat-infested and rodent-infested."
Critics said Trump was creating ethnic divisions as he sought to rally his white-majority base ahead of next year's election.
For her part, Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi expressed her support for Cummings. "We all reject racist attacks against him, and we support his firm leadership," she said.