2020 Dems defend Omar amid Trump criticism
Democratic presidential hopefuls are coming to the defense of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) after President Trump hammered her on Friday over comments she made last month about 9/11.
Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) and Gov. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) all took to social media to defend the Minnesota Democrat, who has become a favorite target of conservatives on Capitol Hill and the media, after the president tweeted out a critical video with edited footage of comments she made in March about the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
“Ilhan Omar is a leader with strength and courage. She won’t back down to Trump’s racism and hate, and neither will we. The disgusting and dangerous attacks against her must end,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) tweeted.
{mosads}Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) also accused the president of inciting violence against Omar and other American Muslims while calling on lawmakers to condemn his rhetoric.
“The President is inciting violence against a sitting Congresswoman—and an entire group of Americans based on their religion. It’s disgusting. It’s shameful. And any elected leader who refuses to condemn it shares responsibility for it,” she tweeted Friday evening.
Trump earlier in the day tweeted out an edited video of Omar, which splices together her saying “some people did something,” referring to the 9/11 attacks, with footage of the damaged World Trade Center and Pentagon.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), a progressive ally of Omar, urged Democrats to come to her defense on Friday and thanked Sanders and Warren on Twitter for weighing in on the Minnesota lawmaker’s behalf.
O’Rourke only hinted at Trump’s tweet, saying “We are stronger than this president’s hatred and Islamophobia. Do not let him drive us apart or make us afraid.”
Inslee said Trump’s video “deliberately” puts Omar and American Muslims in danger.
Conservatives have slammed Omar’s comment from her speech to the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) last month. Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) called the comment “unbelievable” and Fox News host Brian Kilmeade questioned on air, “You have to wonder if she’s an American first.”
Omar has pushed back on those going after her remark while noting that much of the criticism ignores a portion of her quote in which she says many Muslims in the U.S. were unjustly connected with the attacks.
“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,” she said.
CAIR was founded in 1994, but Omar’s office has said she misspoke and meant to note that the organization doubled in size after the 2001 attacks.
Trump has emerged as a vocal detractor of Omar, calling for her to resign in February over comments about pro-Israel lobbying groups that were criticized as anti-Semitic.
“Anti-Semitism has no place in the United States Congress,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting at the White House. “And I think she should either resign from Congress or she should certainly resign from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.”
Updated at 8:50 p.m.