Apr 13, 2019

Trump tweets altered video of Ilhan Omar belittling 9/11

President Trump, on Friday, retweeted a video featuring a speech Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) gave in March to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, edited without context to imply that she downplayed the attacks of September 11.

The backdrop: In her comments on March 23 at CAIR, Omar explained that some Muslims felt their freedoms were called into question in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks. “For far too long we have 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,” Omar said. “CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties.”

Details: Trump's tweet nor the video show the quote in its entirety. Many of Omar's political adversaries expressed disapproval at her remarks. Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Tex.) tweeted: “First Member of Congress to ever describe terrorists who killed thousands of Americans on 9/11 as ‘some people who did something.’"

The state of play: The freshman congresswoman has been vocal about the United States' relationship with Israel. Earlier in March, the House passed a resolution condemning anti-Semitism and other bigotry following Omar's controversial comments on Israel. She publicly apologized after stating that American legislators support Israel for pay, however refused to retract a tweet, implying some Americans “pledge allegiance” to a foreign country.

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