Freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) on Saturday responded to those outraged by her trivialization of the September 11th, 2001, terror attacks, declaring that nobody can “threaten” her “unwavering love” for the United States.
“I did not run for Congress to be silent. I did not run for Congress to sit on the sidelines. I ran because I believed it was time to restore moral clarity and courage to Congress. To fight and to defend our democracy,” Omar wrote in a series of tweets. “No one person – no matter how corrupt, inept, or vicious – can threaten my unwavering love for America. I stand undeterred to continue fighting for equal opportunity in our pursuit of happiness for all Americans.”
“Thank you for standing with me – against an administration that ran on banning Muslims from this country – to fight for the America we all deserve,” she added.
Omar is facing blowback for recent remarks at a private fundraiser for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) of Greater Los Angeles in which she described 9/11 as a day in which “some people did something.”
The Minnesota Democrat said, without offering any evidence to back up her claim:
CAIR was founded after 9/11, because they recognize that some people did something, and then all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties. You can’t just say that today someone is looking at me strange, that I am going to try to make myself look pleasant. You have to say that person is looking at me strange, I am not comfortable with it. I am going to talk to them and ask them why.
Omar also urged attendees to “raise hell” and “make people uncomfortable” to combat what she described as Muslim-Americans being treated as second class citizens following the terror attacks.
On Friday, President Donald Trump tweeted a video of Omar’s remarks with the phrase, writing “WE WILL NEVER FORGET!”
Democrats immediately seized on the tweet, accusing the president of inciting violence against the freshman congresswoman.
“Ilhan Omar is a leader with strength and courage,” said 2020 presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). “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. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), another White House hopeful, claimed: “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.”
Omar has been at a lightning rod for controversy since coming to Washington, D.C. The 37-year-old has faced bipartisan blowback for repeated antisemitic remarks and trafficking of anti-Jewish tropes. In February, Omar, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, suggested Republican lawmakers are bribed by the pro-Israel advocacy group American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in exchange for supporting the Jewish state. The freshman Congresswoman has also described pro-Israel Americans as those who hold an “allegiance to a foreign country.” She previously apologized for accusing Israel of “evil doings” and “hypnotiz[ing] the world” in a 2012 tweet.
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