President Donald Trump dedicated part of his Tuesday night speech on affordability in northeastern Pennsylvania to mock Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and her hijab in the wake of his administration’s investigation of fraud cases within Minnesota‘s Somali community.
Omar, a Somali American, has been mentioned repeatedly in the president’s anti-Somali tirades in recent weeks, and his latest public appearance was no different.
“I love this Ilhan Omar,” Trump said, mispronouncing her name. “Whatever the hell her name is, with the little turban. I love her. She comes in, does nothing but bitch. She’s always complaining.”
“She comes from a country where, I mean, it’s considered about the worst country in the world, right?” he continued. “They have no military. They have no nothing. They have no parliament. They don’t know what the hell the word parliament means. They have nothing. They have no police. They police themselves. They kill each other all the time.”
Trump went on to say that his administration should “get her the hell out,” alleging that Omar married her brother to become an American citizen.
“Can you imagine if Donald Trump married his sister?” he said of himself. “She’s a beautiful person. If I married my sister to get my citizenship, do you think I’d last for about two hours? Or would it be something less than that? She married her brother to get in. Therefore, she’s here illegally.”
The crowd then began chanting “send her back” to Somalia.
Trump and conservatives have peddled the claim that Omar married her brother to gain citizenship for years. However, Omar denied the allegation last week.
Trump began ranting about Minnesota’s Somali community, including Omar, around the time an Afghan national allegedly shot two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., the day before Thanksgiving. He has used the high-profile shooting to justify limiting foreigners’ entry into the United States.
Before the shooting, Trump terminated temporary protected status for Somali nationals living in Minnesota. Afterward, the Treasury Department launched an investigation into fraud allegations that the blue state’s tax money was used to support a foreign terrorist organization based in Somalia.
During his economic-focused speech on Tuesday, Trump encouraged Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to “do a good job” in leading the investigation.
OMAR HITS TRUMP OVER ‘UNHEALTHY OBSESSION’ WITH MINNESOTA’S SOMALI COMMUNITY
“We always take people from Somalia, places that are a disaster, right? Filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime. The only thing they’re good at is going after ships,” he said later, referring to Somali pirates who hijack boats near Somalia’s coast.
After Trump said he doesn’t want Somalis coming to the U.S. anymore during a Cabinet meeting last week, Omar called his rhetoric “disgusting” and made a larger point about how his “hateful” language may lead to “dangerous actions by people who listen to the president.”
