Omar says tweet endangers her life
Rep. Ilhan Omar on Wednesday accused President Donald Trump of spreading “lies that put my life at risk” after the president retweeted a post falsely claiming that the Minnesota Democrat “partied on the anniversary of 9/11.”
Omar said the video of her dancing was taken not on the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks but at a Congressional Black Caucus event. Earlier Wednesday, Trump had retweeted a post by conservative actor and comedian Terrence K. Williams claiming that the video of
Omar dancing was taken on the anniversary of the attacks. The original video appears to have been taken Sept. 13.
“This is from a CBC event we hosted this weekend to celebrate black women in Congress,” Omar said in a tweet. “The President of the United States is continuing to spread lies that put my life at risk. What is Twitter doing to combat this misinformation?”
Williams’ tweet appeared to have been taken down as of Wednesday afternoon. According to Twitter, the company did not take action on Williams’ tweet. Williams did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
In his message retweeting Williams on Wednesday morning, Trump had claimed: “Ilhan Omar, a member of AOC Plus 3, will win us the Great State of Minnesota. The new face of the Democrat Party!” AOC is a reference to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who like Omar is a freshman whom Republicans have sought to cast as among the new leadership of the Democratic Party.
The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Annual Legislative Conference took place Sept. 11-15 in Washington. Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, tweeted the video of Omar dancing at one of the CBC events on Sept. 13. The PCCC on Wednesday called the claim that Omar “partied” on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks “an abhorrent lie that endangers a member of Congress.”