Rep. Ilhan Omar responded to a new report that she married her brother by ripping into conservative commentator Meghan McCain.
“The same people who chastise the progressive movement regularly traffic in anti-Muslim smears and hate speech against me and those I represent,” the Minnesota Democrat wrote Thursday, sharing two tweets from McCain. “It’s almost as if they don’t genuinely care about online harassment.”
One tweet from McCain questioned why more people were not paying attention to a story claiming Omar married her brother while the other tweet was McCain sharing frustration about “abusive” behavior from online “Bernie bro’s.”
“Paying people to generate fake new stories in order to delegitimize me and those I represent isn’t a good look,” Omar added in another tweet. “Desperation is a sad mobilizing tool.”
Paying people to generate fake new stories in order to delegitimize me and those I represent isn’t a good look.
Desperation is a sad mobilizing tool.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) February 20, 2020
The freshman congressman was accused Thursday of marrying her brother by an old friend. Abdihakim Osman, who claims to have ties Omar, said she married her brother to get him the papers necessary “to go to school.”
“The Congresswoman is focused on the work her constituents sent her to Washington to accomplish,” a representative for the Omar said about the claim.
An investigation by the Washington Examiner turned up dozens of documents that showed discrepancies in Omar’s marriage statements. A spokesman with her office told the Washington Examiner he would not discuss the issue.
