White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said President Trump wishes no one “ill will” after he tweeted a video criticizing controversial comments Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., made about the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
“Certainly the president is wishing no ill will and certainly not violence towards anyone,” she said during an interview with ABC News. “But the president is absolutely and should be calling out the congresswoman for her not only one-time, but history of anti-Semitic comments.”
The video tweeted by the president on Friday attacked Omar for her comments and included images and video footage of the World Trade Center’s twin towers, and the Pentagon, burning.
“WE WILL NEVER FORGET,” Trump tweeted with the video.
WE WILL NEVER FORGET! pic.twitter.com/VxrGFRFeJM
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 12, 2019
Omar has come under significant criticism for her remarks, which were made during a March event for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
“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,” she said. CAIR was founded in 1994.
Numerous Democrats have knocked Trump for his tweet, accusing him of inciting violence against Omar.
But Sanders questioned why they were not condemning Omar for her comments, as the freshman congresswoman has made several remarks that were believed to be anti-Semitic.
“The bigger question is why aren’t Democrats not doing the same thing? It’s absolutely abhorrent the comments that she continues to make and has made. And they look the other way,” she said. “I find what her comments to be absolutely disgraceful and unbefitting of a member of Congress. I think that it’s a good thing that the president is calling her out for those comments and the big question is, why aren’t Democrats doing it as well? Not just doing it, but doing it by name.”
