During a campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday, President Donald Trump criticized D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser for her response to protesters pulling down a Confederate statue. “They ripped down a statue that was 110-years-old. Beautiful piece of art,” Trump said. “In front of a police precinct with our radical left mayor watching on television. We’re not happy. That’s going to be very expensive for D.C.”

Sue Ogrocki / AP Photo

President Trump took aim at D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser during his rally in Tulsa Saturday night, the latest development in an ongoing public feud between them.

Trump said he was “not happy” that protesters had toppled and burned a statue of Confederate General Albert Pike in Judiciary Square Friday night.

“They ripped down a statue that was 110-years-old. Beautiful piece of art. In front of a police precinct with our radical left mayor watching on television,” Trump said, “We’re not happy. That’s going to be very expensive for D.C.”

He didn’t say how that would cost the District but claimed, once again, that D.C. was frequently asking the federal government for money. “‘We need more money. We always need more money,'” Trump said in a sarcastic voice. “And then they don’t do the proper job. So, it’s not gonna be good for Mayor Bowser.”

The mayor fired back on Twitter, writing that she was “living in his head” — along with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who Trump also attacked during the rally.

“I see @AOC and I are living in his head, and apparently there’s a lot of empty room in there … just like tonight’s half empty Tulsa arena,” Bowser wrote, taking a jab at the disappointing crowd size for Trump’s first rally since the coronavirus pandemic began.

The campaign had bragged that a million people requested tickets for the Saturday night event. But the 19,000 seat BOK Center was “at least one-third empty,” according to the New York Times. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence cancelled plans to address an overflow crowd outside when few people showed up there.

In the District, protesters felled the Pike statue at the end of a day of Juneteenth celebrations and demonstrations. People scaled the 11-foot bronze figure, wrapped it in chains and pulled it down.

D.C. officials had tried to remove the statue, but could not obtain congressional authorization.

Recent demonstrations over police brutality and systemic racism have renewed efforts to remove Confederate statues and other markers, like street signs and school names. Trump has argued the statues, and military bases named for Confederate leaders, should be left in place.

The president first tweeted about the Pike statue and D.C. police response late Friday night, calling it a “disgrace” and saying the protesters should be arrested.

This latest clash comes amid a weeks-long public feud between Trump and Bowser. D.C.’s mayor had previously been restrained in her response to the president. But she has sharply criticized his rhetoric over the past few weeks and his handling of the protests in D.C. over the police killing of George Floyd.

Trump began attacking Bowser after the first day of protests, when he wrongly claimed that she wouldn’t let D.C. police respond to the demonstrations outside the White House. He also threatened protesters with dogs and “ominous weapons” should they breach the White House perimeter.

Bowser said Trump’s tweets “are an attack on humanity and they are an attack on Black America, and they make my city less safe.”

After some early nights of protests ended in looting and property destruction, the president promised to “clamp down, very very strong,” in D.C. The Trump administration flooded the city with federal law enforcement officers and National Guard troops, including those from other states. The most violent moments came when law enforcement forcefully cleared peaceful protesters from Lafayette Square on June 1 shortly before Trump walked across the street to St. John’s Church.

Bowser demanded the withdrawal of federal forces, though because D.C. is not a state, the federal government had more authority to respond to demonstrations.

In a prominent public display, Bowser commissioned muralists to paint Black Lives Matter in 35-foot yellow letters on 16th Street near the White House.

Trump has claimed that D.C. is always asking the federal government for money and that its budget is “totally out of control.” D.C.’s budget has been running a surplus, though it’s begun to feel effects of the pandemic. The city also lost out on millions of dollars in coronavirus relief aid because it was classified as a territory rather than a state.

Bowser has, in part, used her newfound national profile to call attention to D.C.’s statehood fight, even picking up a handful of new co-sponsors for congressional legislation to make D.C. a state.