Democrats admonish Trump tweet linking Ilhan Omar and 9/11
Washington (QNN)- Prominent Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, defended Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN) after Donald Trump tweeted a viral video featuring a recent speech given by Omar intercut with footage of 9/11.
WE WILL NEVER FORGET! pic.twitter.com/VxrGFRFeJM
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 12, 2019
“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 said on Saturday.
Pelosi added that it’s “wrong for the President, as Commander-in-Chief, to fan the flames to make anyone less safe.”
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.
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) April 13, 2019
2020 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders also defended the freshman congresswoman and condemned Trump’s video attack.
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.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) April 13, 2019
South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, a Navy veteran, sent a series of tweets on Friday night calling the president’s attack dangerous and divisive.
On Thursday, the New York Post had helped set the tone for the president’s tweet by publishing a front page that showed her comments over a similar image.
The Post editors know what she actually said, and in what context, and they know that this is wrong–journalistically, and morally. It's intentional racism and Islamophobia, and at any other paper, you'd get a flood of resignations from your staff for it. https://t.co/sKmg43AhSN
— Elizabeth Spiers (@espiers) April 11, 2019
Omar has reportedly been targeted with death threats over comments, which were described anti-Semitic. 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.
Trump has long wielded 9/11 as a political weapon. In the early part of his presidential campaign, he spread a falsehood that “thousands,” of people in New Jersey — where there is a “heavy Arab population,” he said — celebrated as the twin towers came crashing down.
During a primary debate in 2016, he went after rivals like Jeb Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) over George W. Bush’s failure to prevent 9/11.
“The World Trade Center came down during your brother’s reign. Remember that,” Trump told Bush.
