Associated Press/J. Scott Applewhite
- Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer condemned President Donald Trump’s recent attack on Rep. Ilhan Omar over her remarks on the 9/11 terror attacks in a statement to INSIDER on Monday.
- "The way President Trump has targeted Rep. Omar is dangerous and wrong," Schumer said. "He should take down his tweets immediately and stop tweeting and start leading."
- This comes after several days of mounting pressure from progressive activists on Democratic lawmakers to speak out in defense of Omar, one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress,
- Omar has recently been the target of increased death threats.
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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer condemned President Donald Trump’s attack on Rep. Ilhan Omar, who faced fierce criticism after saying "some people did something" on 9/11, in a statement to INSIDER on Monday.
"The way President Trump has targeted Rep. Omar is dangerous and wrong. The president has the responsibility to unite — not divide — the country, but his recent attacks have again done the exact opposite," Schumer said in the statement." Americans expect more from our commander-in-chief than cheap exploitation of 9/11. He should take down his tweets immediately and stop tweeting and start leading."
This comes after several days of mounting pressure from progressive activists on Democratic lawmakers to speak out in defense of Omar, one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, who has been targeted with death threats.
On Saturday morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi enraged Democratic activists — and some lawmakers — by appearing to condemn both Omar’s remark and Trump’s attack.
"The memory of 9/11 is sacred ground, and any discussion of it must be done with reverence. The President shouldn’t use the painful images of 9/11 for a political attack," Pelosi tweeted on Saturday, adding, "It is wrong for the President, as Commander-in-Chief, to fan the flames to make anyone less safe."
Most Democrats initially stayed quiet as video of Rep. Ilhan Omar saying "some people did something" on 9/11 went viral and many conservatives — and at least one Democratic lawmaker — attacked her.
Only Omar’s closest allies, including freshman Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley, publicly defended Omar before Trump’s attack. They didn’t defend Omar’s comment, but argued that it was "taken out of context" and "manipulated."
Meanwhile, Rep. Max Rose, a Staten Island Democrat and Army veteran, called Omar’s comment "insensitive."
But after President Donald Trump tweeted out a video on Friday juxtaposing footage of Omar’s remark with images of the World Trade Center’s twin towers collapsing, several 2020 presidential candidates and Democratic members of Congress began to speak out in defense of the freshman congresswoman. They condemned Trump’s video attack in much stronger terms and warned it could inflame Islamophobia and incite violence against Omar.
Omar says she has been targeted with numerous death threats over her comments. And last week, a New York man was arrested and charged with threatening to assault and kill Omar, the US Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York said.
See Also:
- Pelosi demands Trump take down ‘disrespectful and dangerous’ 9/11 video on Ilhan Imar, says Capitol Police are monitoring her safety
- Nancy Pelosi appears to condemn both Ilhan Omar’s 9/11 comment and Trump’s video attack, enraging Democratic activists
- Trump accused Ilhan Omar of trivializing 9/11, but has made his own controversial comments about the terror attacks
Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Eliza Relman)