‘FAN THE FLAMES’
Nancy Pelosi: Trump Is ‘Wrong’ to Use Edited 9/11 Footage in ‘Political Attack’
‘It is wrong for the president, as commander-in-chief, to fan the flames to make anyone less,’ said the House Speaker.
REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Saturday blasted President Trump, claiming that the commander-in-chief was threatening the safety of Rep. Ilhan Omar, after he tweeted an edited video of 9/11 footage attacking the Minnesota Democrat.
“The memory of 9/11 is sacred ground, and any discussion of it must be done with reverence. The president shouldn’t use the painful images of 9/11 for a political attack,” tweeted Pelosi. “It is wrong for the president, as commander-in-chief, to fan the flames to make anyone less safe.”
Trump’s tweet included video of Omar, at a March 23 fundraising event, talking about the establishment of the Council on American-Islamic Relations after 9/11—before cutting to footage of the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
In Omar’s now-frequently-invoked remarks, the Somali-born U.S. citizen 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.”
“Some people did something?” the video asks. “September 11, 2001. We remember.” In his tweet, Trump added: “WE WILL NEVER FORGET!”
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) chimed in on Saturday: “For two years, this President has used the most powerful platform in the world to sow hate & division. He's done it again. Putting the safety of a sitting member of Congress @IlhanMN at risk & vilifying a whole religion is beyond the pale. I'll be blunt—we must defeat him.”
On Friday, after Trump’s tweet, several Democrats ran to Omar’s defense, including Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who wrote on Twitter that her colleague’s life had been put “in danger” after the president’s “explicit attack.”
“For our colleagues to be silent is to be complicit in the outright, dangerous targeting of a member of Congress,” she tweeted. “We must speak out.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) also tweeted that Trump was “inciting violence” with his video, and that “it’s disgusting” and “shameful.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) added: “Ilhan Omar is a leader with strength and courage. She won't back down to Trump's racism and hate, and neither will we. The disgusting and dangerous attacks against her must end.”