Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) said in a statement on Sunday night that death threats against her have increased since Trump tweeted a video featuring comments she recently made about the September 11, 2001, attacks.
President Donald Trump on Friday shared an inflammatory video on Twitter cutting to sound bites of Omar saying "some people did something" juxtaposed with footage and audio from the terror attacks.
Omar's statement came from a speech she gave last month at an event held by the Council of American-Islamic Relations, where she spoke about Muslims feeling vilified after the September 11 attacks: "For far too long we have lived with the discomfort of being a second-class citizen, and frankly I'm tired of it, and every single Muslim in this country should be tired of it," Omar said. "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." Omar's office clarified to the Washington Post that the freshman lawmaker misspoke — CAIR was founded in 1994 and doubled in size after the September 11 attacks.
The video that Trump shared online was retweeted over 90,000 times as of Sunday evening.
In a statement, Omar's office said that the lawmaker has recieved an increase in death threats directly related to the video.
"Since the President's tweet on Friday evening, I have experienced an increase in direct threats to my life — many directly referencing or replying to the President's video. I thank the Capitol Police, the FBI, the House Sergeant of Arms, and the Speaker of the House for their attention to these threats."
"Violent rhetoric of hate speech have no place in our society, much less from our country's Commander in Chief," she added.
Earlier on Sunday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for tightened security of Omar in the wake of Trump's video.
"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 said in a statement, adding that Capitol Police were conducting a security asssessmnet to safeguard Omar.
Critics warned that Trump's video may heighten calls to violence against Omar, who has already faced death threats. Last week a New York man was charged for making death threats over the phone to Omar's office.
