House Speaker Nancy Pelosi blasted President Trump during her trip to Germany on Saturday, claiming Trump’s criticism of Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Sept. 11 comments were an attempt to “fan the flames” and make the U.S. “less safe.”
Pelosi was in Germany to visit U.S. troops on Saturday, but the overseas trip didn’t stop her from weighing in on the political feud over Omar’s comments.
“The President shouldn’t use the painful images of 9/11 for a political attack,” wrote Pelosi on Twitter.
“As we visit our troops in Stuttgart to thank them and be briefed by them, we honor our first responsibility as leaders to protect and defend the American people. It is wrong for the President, as Commander-in-Chief, to fan the flames to make anyone less safe.”
As we visit our troops in Stuttgart to thank them and be briefed by them, we honor our first responsibility as leaders to protect and defend the American people. It is wrong for the President, as Commander-in-Chief, to fan the flames to make anyone less safe.
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) April 13, 2019
Pelosi was responding to a video that Trump posted on Thursday that showed a recent controversial speech by Omar. The clip included Omar’s description of the attacks as “some people did something,” interspersed with footage from the World Trade Center attacks. Republicans have said Omar’s comments were dismissive of the severity of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Though leaders typically have adhered to a tradition of “politics ends at the water’s edge” and refrained from criticizing the president while abroad, Pelosi is the second Democratic leader to have done so while in Germany in recent months. Biden jabbed at Trump while in Munich in February.
Democrats have rallied around Omar after her comments, claiming that they are being distorted by Republicans. Several of the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates have come to Omar’s defense, saying that criticism of her statements is “dangerous” and could end up “inciting violence.”
