Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call(WASHINGTON) — Just hours after Rep. Ilhan Omar released a statement reporting a surge of threats against her life following a tweeted attack from President Donald Trump, Trump again took aim at the freshman Muslim-American congresswoman on Monday by describing her as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s “leader.”
“Before Nancy, who has lost all control of Congress and is getting nothing done, decides to defend her leader, Rep. Omar, she should look at the anti-Semitic, anti-Israel and ungrateful U.S. HATE statements Omar has made,” Trump tweeted. “She is out of control, except for her control of Nancy!”
Before Nancy, who has lost all control of Congress and is getting nothing done, decides to defend her leader, Rep. Omar, she should look at the anti-Semitic, anti-Israel and ungrateful U.S. HATE statements Omar has made. She is out of control, except for her control of Nancy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 15, 2019
Democrats have rushed to Omar’s defense after Trump tweeted out a video Friday evening sequencing a clip of Omar speaking about 9/11 during a CAIR speech last month with disturbing footage from the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
“CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something, and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties,” Omar said in the speech.
Republicans have criticized the seemingly passive reference to the terrorists who carried out the attacks, while Omar’s defenders have countered that the remarks were largely taken out of context and have been seized on in order to stoke anti-Islamic sentiment against the Muslim congresswoman.
“Since the President’s tweet Friday evening, I have experienced an increase in direct threats on my life — many directly referencing or replying to the President’s video,” Omar said in a statement Sunday evening. “I thank the Capitol Police, the FBI, the House Sergeant at Arms, and the Speaker of the House for their attention to these threats.”
Pelosi said Sunday confirmed she personally spoke with the House Sergeant-at-Arms in order to ensure the safety of Omar, as well as her family and staff.
“The President’s words weigh a ton, and his hateful and inflammatory rhetoric creates real danger,” Pelosi said. “President Trump must take down his disrespectful and dangerous video.”
Asked about the president’s tweet on Sunday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders stood by the president’s decision to target Omar.
“Certainly the president is wishing no ill will and certainly not violence towards anyone, but the president is absolutely and should be calling out the congresswoman for her not only one time but history of anti-Semitic comments,” Sanders said on ABC’s “This Week.”
Trump will venture close to Omar’s home district Monday when he travels to Burnsville, Minnesota, for a Tax Day roundtable on the economy.
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