The top Democrat in the US Congress ordered a safety review for a Muslim lawmaker and her family Sunday after accusing President Donald Trump of putting her in danger by tweeting a video of her spliced with footage of the 9/11 attacks.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi took time out from an official trip to issue a strong statement urging Trump to remove the clip featuring Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
“Following the president’s tweet, I spoke with the sergeant-at-arms to ensure that Capitol Police are conducting a security assessment to safeguard Congresswoman Omar, her family and her staff,” she said. “The president’s words weigh a ton, and his hateful and inflammatory rhetoric creates real danger. President Trump must take down his disrespectful and dangerous video.”
Trump’s spokeswoman Sarah Sanders, meanwhile, defended the president Sunday against accusations that he was inciting violence toward Omar.
Omar has been at the center of an escalating row after a clip emerged of her characterizing the deadliest attack on US soil as “some people did something.”
On Friday, Trump tweeted a video that juxtaposed the snippet — which Omar’s fellow Democrats say was taken out of context — with images of the hijacked planes used in the attacks crashing into the World Trade Center’s twin towers that once dominated New York’s skyline. Menacing music accompanies Omar’s words. The clip, which had been viewed more than 9.4 million times as of Sunday afternoon, ends with the words: “SEPTEMBER 11 2001 WE REMEMBER.”