Trump, Pelosi exchange jabs over Omar

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump on Monday criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., for defending Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who has made comments that some have interpreted as anti-Semitic and insensitive to 9/11 terror victims. Pelosi rebuked the president Sunday for tweeting a video showing scenes from the 9/11 attacks juxtaposed with a speech Omar gave last month at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). Omar said the organization had been “founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something” and as a result, “Muslims were starting to lose access to our civil liberties.” (CAIR was actually founded in 1994.) Pelosi and other Democrats said the video twisted Omar’s remarks and politicized 9/11. The president tweeted Monday that Pelosi had “lost all control of Congress.”

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders defended the president’s tweets during an interview on Fox News: “For her to talk about it in such a dismissive way is, frankly, disgusting and abhorrent, and I’m glad the president is calling her out.” Democrats accused Trump of inciting violence after Omar said she received death threats over the past few days. Pelosi asked U.S. Capitol Police to ensure Omar’s safety. Sanders said the president “is wishing no ill will and certainly not violence toward anyone.”