Pelosi Admits She Defended Ilhan Omar’s 9/11 Comments Without Knowing What Was Said

Zachary Stieber
By Zachary Stieber
April 17, 2019Politics
share
Pelosi Admits She Defended Ilhan Omar’s 9/11 Comments Without Knowing What Was Said
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, (Left) speaks during a ceremonial bill enrollment for legislation which would end U.S. involvement in the war in Yemen in Washington, on April 9, 2019 .(Photo by Alex Edelman/Getty Images) Rep. Ilhan Omar (Right) rallies with fellow Democrats before voting on H.R. 1, or the People Act, on the East Steps of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on March 08, 2019.

House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said that she defended controversial remarks by radical Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) even though she didn’t know what Omar said.

Omar has been criticized frequently in recent months for anti-Semitic comments, including claiming that Jewish group AIPAC was behind a scheme to exchange funding for politicians in return for support of Israel, which she later apologized for, and calling a Jewish Trump adviser a “white nationalist.”

The latest controversy stemmed from remarks Omar made about the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, while speaking at the annual Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) event in California on March 23.

“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 said.

“So you can’t just say that today someone is looking at me strange, that I am going to try to make myself look pleasant. You have to say this person is looking at me strange, I am not comfortable with it. I am going to talk to them and ask them why. Because that is a right you have.”

People took offense with Omar referring to the terror attacks as “some people did something,” including Jim Riches, the father of a Fire Department of New York firefighter slain on 9/11. Riches said during an appearance at the annual GOP gala in Manhattan that he’s owed an apology.

“They can’t deal with reality—Schumer, Nadler, all the New York politicians were quiet. They didn’t say one thing,” he said, reported the New York Post. “I did nothing wrong. She [Ilhan Omar] owes us an apology and we are going to get it.”

The Post published a cover showing the Twin Towers burning after the planes were slammed into them, with the title, “Here’s your something.”

President Donald Trump later shared a video clip of Omar’s comments, adding: “WE WILL NEVER FORGET!”

Omar has declined to apologize, instead saying the president’s quotation of her comments has resulted in “an increase in direct threats on my life.”

When asked about Omar’s comments and charges that the Democratic party has become more anti-Semitic in recent years during an interview on CNN, Pelosi responded, “I don’t think the congresswoman is anti-Semitic. I wouldn’t even put those in the same category.”

“She’s been accused of it, but I criticized the president of using film of 9/11 as a political tool, I think he was wrong to do it,” she added.

Pelosi said that she always advises people in her party to be careful about anti-Semitism cropping up. The interviewer turned it back to Democrats becoming more critical of Israel and whether that would be used by Republicans in the 2020 elections.

“We have no taint of [anti-Semitism] in the Democratic party,” Pelosi claimed. She said she had not spoken to Omar, then revealed that she didn’t even know what it was that Omar had said that infuriated so many.

“I do not know what was said, but I do know what the president said was not right,” Pelosi said.

Some Democratic officials criticized Omar’s comments, including Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), who said that the Post’s cover expressed the feelings of himself and many others who were offended by how she characterized the terror attacks.

“Those statements were not only hurtful to me but extremely hurtful to everyone personally impacted to those terrorist attacks. No one should refer to what happened on 9/11, with terrorist attacks that killed thousands of Americans, as ‘something by some people,'” he said during an appearance on MSNBC.

Leaders of the party, though, all defended Omar. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), for instance, during an appearance on CNN on April 14, responded when the host asked him if he took any issue with the remarks.

“No, I did not. She characterized it only in passing,” he said. “She was talking about discrimination against Muslim Americans. And she just said that, after that happened, it was used as an excuse for lots of discrimination and for withdrawal of civil liberties.”

ntd newsletter icon
Sign up for NTD Daily
What you need to know, summarized in one email.
Stay informed with accurate news you can trust.
By registering for the newsletter, you agree to the Privacy Policy.
Comments