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News > U.S.

Progressives, Democrats Slam Trump over 'Disgusting' Video linking Ilhan Omar to 9/11

  • The U.S. President put up a video of 9/11 with Ilhan Omar's speech, drawing flak from opposition.

    The U.S. President put up a video of 9/11 with Ilhan Omar's speech, drawing flak from opposition. | Photo: Reuters

Published 14 April 2019
Opinion

The U.S. president drew sharp rebukes from progressive members of U.S. Congress and key presidential candidates for posting the video.

United States President Donald Trump has come under fire for posting a video on his Twitter linking 9/11 with Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.

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Trump 'Fuels Hate Against Muslims,' Ilhan Omar Says

The video spliced news footage of 9/11 with a clip from a speech Omar gave last month to Council of American-Islamic Relations, Muslim civil rights, and advocacy group.

Omar said that Muslims had "lived with the discomfort of being a second-class citizen and, frankly, I'm tired of it, and every single Muslim in this country should be tired of it."

She added, "some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties."

The critics of the president said he took Omar's words out of context in order to stoke anti-Muslim sentiment.

The Democrats criticized the video saying that Trump used one of the most tragic incidents in U.S. history to slam a political opponent.

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, "The memory of 9/11 is sacred ground, and any discussion of it must be done with reverence," Pelosi said in a statement posted on Twitter. "The President shouldn't use the painful images of 9/11 for a political attack."

The Democrats also said the video is putting Omar’s life in jeopardy.

In March, an anti-Muslim poster was seen outside of the chamber of the West Virginia house of delegates showing a picture of 9/11 and Ilhan Omar together with the words, "Never forget - you said. I am the proof - you have forgotten."

"Look no further, the GOP's [Republican] anti-Muslim display likening me to a terrorist rock in state capitols and no one is condemning them,” Omar said about the poster last month.

This time her colleagues came forward criticizing the president.

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said the tweet put Omar’s life in danger. “For our colleagues to be silent is to be complicit in the outright, dangerous targeting of a member of Congress,” she said urging everyone to speak out.

"The President is inciting violence against a sitting Congresswoman—and an entire group of Americans based on their religion," Senator Elizabeth Warren, wrote on Twitter. "It's disgusting. It's shameful. And any elected leader who refuses to condemn it shares responsibility for it."

Senator and 2020 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders also condemned it saying the “disgusting and dangerous attacks against her must end.”

"No one person – no matter how corrupt, inept, or vicious – can threaten my unwavering love for America," Omar wrote in a tweet Saturday. "I stand undeterred to continue fighting for equal opportunity in our pursuit of happiness for all Americans."

Continuous attacks against Ilhan Omar by right-wing politicians and media organizations started after she slammed pro-Israeli lobbies’ influence on U.S. politics.

Last week, a Trump supporter was arrested in New York for threatening to kill Omar.

According to prosecutors, the suspect Patrick Carlineo Jr. spoke by telephone with one of Omar's staff members on March 21 and asked the employee, "Do you work for the Muslim Brotherhood? Why are you working for her, she's a terrorist. I'll put a bullet in her skull."

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