US President Donald Trump defended his widely criticized suggestions that four non-white Democratic Congresswomen should “leave” the country because they “hate it”, even as the Democrats and some Republican lawmakers have accused him of racism and white supremacy.

After posting on Twitter that Democratic Congresswoman were not born in the US and suggested that “they should go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from where they came”, President Trump on Tuesday said that “they can leave” if “they hate” his country.

The President augmented and doubled down on his comments on Monday, and said “if the four lawmakers “hate our country”, they can leave”.

He also lashed out at those who criticized his series of tweets as “racist”, saying that it “doesn’t concern me because many people agree with me”.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest woman to serve in the US Congress, along with her ‘squad’, slammed Trump for falsely implying that she and the other freshman House Democrats were not natural-born American citizens later on Monday.

On Sunday, Trump, in a series of tweets, said: “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 US, the greatest and most powerful nation on earth, how our government is to be run.”

During a press conference, the four women had condemned Trump’s remarks but said that not so much attention must be paid to this latest “distraction” by the President.

Although Trump did not name anyone in his tweets, he had last week referred to Ocasio-Cortez, the New York Representative, when he was defending Nancy Pelosi.

He further mentioned in his tweet that Pelosi would happily organise for the Congresswomen to leave the country.

Meanwhile, amid the controversy, Pelosi prepared a resolution asking her Democratic colleagues in Congress to formally condemn Trump’s comments and urging Republicans to denounce his “xenophobic tweets”.

Democrats candidates for Presidential nominations, including Bernie Sanders, have also condemned the tweet episode and called Donald Trump a “racist”.

“When I call the president a racist, this is what I’m talking about.. We must stand together for justice and dignity towards all.”