On Sunday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made the announcement that she has taken steps to make sure that Rep. Ilhan Omar is safe at all times. This announcement came soon after President Trump released a video on Twitter that showed Omar dismiss the seriousness of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
She also asked Trump to take down the video of Omar. Later that day, it was discovered that the video was indeed removed, but it wasn’t clear as to whether or not Pelosi had anything to do with it. Pelosi was one of many Democrats who criticized Trump for the tweet, with several of them accusing Trump of attempting to incite violence against Omar.
Early Sunday, the White House came to Trump’s defense, saying that it was his duty to point out Omar’s history of offensive comments. They also said that Trump wished no “ill will” on Omar. While traveling in London, Pelosi released a statement in which she said that she had spoken to congressional authorities about Trump’s comment to “ensure that Capitol Police are conducting a security assessment to safeguard Congresswoman Omar, her family and her staff.” Pelosi also said that “They will continue to monitor and address the threats she faces.”
Pelosi also asked for the president to discourage such behavior. “The President’s words weigh a ton, and his hateful and inflammatory rhetoric creates real danger. President Trump must take down his disrespectful and dangerous video,” said Pelosi.
Included in Trump’s tweet were snippets of a recent speech that Omar had given to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). In defending the organization, Omar said that CAIR was founded after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks “because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties.” In actuality, CAIR was formed in 1994. Trump also included in his tweet actual footage of the terrorist attack. He captioned the tweet with the words: “WE WILL NEVER FORGET.”
Omar’s critics have accused her of being flippant while describing the attackers who were responsible for killing almost 3,000 people. Later on, she attempted to defend herself by tweeting a quote from President George W. Bush, in which he described the attackers as “people.”
Sarah Sanders, the White House Press Secretary, asked why other Democrats weren’t calling out Omar like Trump was. Democrats who didn’t agree with the president’s statement came to Omar’s defense.
“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. The bigger question is, why aren’t Democrats doing the same thing? It’s absolutely abhorrent the comments that she continues to make and has made and they look the other way,” said Sanders.
With her comments about Isreal’s influence in Washington, Omar has consistently pushed her fellow Democrats into very uncomfortable territory. In the past, she has apologized for making the suggestion that lawmakers were paid to support Israel. She has also said that she wasn’t criticizing Jewish people, but she refused to rescind a tweet that suggested that Americans who supported Israel “pledge allegiance” to a foreign country.
Rep. Jerry Nadler from New York has constituents that are included in Manhattan’s financial district, which was the target of the 9/11 terror attacks. He has said that he doesn’t have a problem with the way that Omar described the attacks. “I have had some problems with some of her other remarks, but not — but not with that one,” he said.
