President Donald Trump slammed Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar just hours before she was attacked during a town hall Tuesday night in Minneapolis.
Trump, 79, took a swipe at Omar during his hour-long speech in Iowa on Tuesday afternoon.
The president has regularly mocked Omar, even calling her “garbage.” He accused her of “financial and political crimes” on his Truth Social on Jan. 22, and is being investigated by the Justice Department and the House Oversight Committee.
Trump has repeatedly demanded that Omar, who was born in Somalia and immigrated to the United States with her family when she was 12, to be jailed or deported. As far back as 2019, a crowd at a Trump rally chanted, “Send her back! Send her back!” in reference to the 43-year-old.
On Tuesday, when he mentioned her name sarcastically in Iowa, members of the crowd loudly booed. Trump called her a “wise guy” before listing off insults.
“She comes from a country that’s a disaster,” Trump said, referencing her Somali heritage. “It’s probably... it’s not even a country. It barely has a government, I don’t think it has. They’re good at one thing-pirates.”
The president then continued, “But they don’t do that anymore because they get the same treatment from us as the drug dealers get” before imitating the sound of an attack, “Boom! Boom! Boom!”
Hours later, on Tuesday night, Omar was sprayed with an unidentified liquid by a man from the audience who rushed towards her carrying a syringe. Omar’s attacker, identified as 55-year-old Anthony Kazmierczak, has been charged with third-degree assault, the Minneapolis Police Department told the Daily Beast.
The Democrat posted on X that she was “OK” and said, “I’m a survivor so this small agitator isn’t going to intimidate me from doing my work. I don’t let bullies win.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
Trump showed no concern from Omar after her attack.
“I think she’s a fraud. I really don’t think about that. She probably had herself sprayed, knowing her,” the president told ABC reporter Rachel Scott.
When asked if he had seen the video, Trump said “I haven’t seen it. No, no. I hope I don’t have to bother.”
JD Vance had also criticized Omar online this week, after she posted commentary on Attorney General Pam Bondi‘s request to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to hand over the state’s voter rolls in order to “bring an end to the chaos” surrounding brutal ICE raids.
“This was never about immigration or fraud,” Omar wrote. “It was always about rigging elections.”
Vance mocked Omar: “We really want illegal aliens to vote in elections and will riot to ensure that it is so.”
Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was quick to draw a link between the rhetoric of Vance and Trump this week and the attack on Omar.
“It is not a coincidence that after days of President Trump and VP Vance putting Rep. Omar in their crosshairs with slanderous public attacks, she gets assaulted at her town hall,” AOC wrote on X. “Thank God she is okay. If they want leaders to take down the temp, they need to look in the mirror.”
Speaking on CNN’s NewsNight on Tuesday, panelist Ana Navarro also called out Trump for his consistent inflammatory remarks against Omar.
“One of the people who has led the charge against Ilhan Omar is Donald Trump,” Navarro said, accusing the president of having “the biggest bully pulpit in the world.”
Navarro mentioned that Trump even slammed Omar during a rambling speech at the World Economy Forum in Davos last week, noting “I’m not sure they know who she is.”
She referenced Trump’s claim that his administration was “going to de-escalate a little bit” the tensions in Minnesota following two deaths by federal agents.
Navarro added, “You know what Donald Trump should do today if he wants to deescalate what’s happening? He should call Ilhan Omar and ask her how she’s doing.”
