Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. has suggested that President Donald Trump’s rhetoric toward her and the Somali community contributed to the attack on her at a town hall on Tuesday.
Omar said Wednesday that the man at the town hall “was specifically upset that Trump’s order to deport Somalis was not yielding enough deportations of Somalis, so he wanted to come get the person he thought was protecting the Somalis.”
“What the facts have shown since I’ve gotten into elected office is that every time the president of the United States has chosen to use hateful rhetoric to talk about me and the community that I represent, my death threats skyrocket,” Omar said at a news conference in Minneapolis.
“I do believe that the facts of the situation are that I wouldn’t be where I am at today, having to pay for security, having the government to think about providing me security, if Donald Trump wasn’t in office,” she added.
Omar was confronted at a town hall on Tuesday by a man who tried to spray her with a substance from a syringe. The man, identified as James Kazmierczak, 55, was arrested on suspicion of assault but has yet to be formally charged.
A spokesperson for Omar said her office was told that a preliminary report showed that the substance was apple cider vinegar. The FBI said in a statement Wednesday that it is now investigating the incident.
Trump has targeted Omar dating to his first term in office, often referring to her home country, Somalia. In 2019, he tweeted that Omar and three fellow House progressives and women of color known as “the squad” should “go back” to the countries they came from. All of the “squad” members except Omar were born in the U.S.
At a rally in Pennsylvania last month, Trump said Omar “does nothing but bitch” and encouraged the crowd to chant “send her back.”
On Monday, Trump said the Justice Department was “looking” at Omar over fraud claims.
Omar said Wednesday that the man at the town hall “was specifically upset that Trump’s order to deport Somalis was not yielding enough deportations of Somalis, so he wanted to come get the person he thought was protecting the Somalis.”