House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged President Trump to remove a video from Twitter that criticized Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., for comments about the Sept. 11 terror attacks, and is seeking a security assessment by Capitol Police for the freshman Democrat.
“Following the president’s tweet, I spoke with the Sergeant-at-Arms to ensure that Capitol Police are conducting a security assessment to safeguard Congresswoman Omar, her family and her staff. They will continue to monitor and address the threats she faces,” Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement.
“The president’s words weigh a ton, and his hateful and inflammatory rhetoric creates real danger. President Trump must take down his disrespectful and dangerous video,” she added.
Trump tweeted a video on Friday that juxtaposed controversial comments Omar made during a recent event with video footage and images of the Twin Towers and Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.
“We will never forget,” the president said in his tweet.
WE WILL NEVER FORGET! pic.twitter.com/VxrGFRFeJM
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 12, 2019
Omar said during the March speech for the Council on American-Islamic Relations that the organization 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.”
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.”
During an interview with ABC News on Sunday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Trump is “wishing no ill will and certainly not violence towards anyone.”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations is an advocacy group with a focus on Muslim civil rights and has denied accusations that it has ties to terrorist organizations, calling such claims an Islamophobic stereotype. They are headquartered in Washington, D.C., on Capitol Hill with regional offices throughout the country.
