Democratic colleagues of U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar swiftly rallied behind her after the Minnesota congresswoman was attacked by a man with an unknown liquid substance on Tuesday at a town hall.
“I hope people realize the courageous, brave Congresswoman we have in my sister,” said U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, a Democrat from Massachusetts and one of Omar’s closest friends and allies in Congress as a member of the progressive group known as “The Squad.”
Rebuking President Donald Trump‘s frequent attacks on Rep. Omar, a Somali-American, Pressley wrote on X, “She is unflappable & DOES NOT FLINCH despite the daily threats & vitriol incited by the occupant of the White House. And as always, she carries on in defense of her community & our country.”
Fellow “Squad” member New York U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, popularly known as AOC, said, “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.”
She added, “Thank God she is okay. If they want leaders to take down the temp, they need to look in the mirror.”
Hours before the Tuesday attack on Omar, President Trump invoked her name yet again while defending his administration’s controversial immigration policies.
“We need people to come in legally…They have to show that they’re not going to blow up our shopping centers, blow up our farms, kill people,” the president said while delivering remarks on the U.S. economy in Iowa. “They cannot come in unless they come in legally into our country. And we’re letting some great people come in. They have to show that they can love our country…be proud. Not like Ilhan Omar.”
Omar and members of “The Squad,” all women of color, have been the frequent targets of Trump over the years. In recent months, however, he has particularly focused his political attacks on Omar and the Somali-American communities in Minnesota, calling them “garbage” and deploying a surge of ICE and Homeland Security officers to Minneapolis as part of a large-scale immigration operation. Those operations have resulted in the fatal ICE shootings of two U.S. citizens, controversial detainments of children, and mass protests.
While Trump and the White House appeared to soften their rhetoric on Monday following the fatal ICE shooting of Alex Pretti, at Tuesday’s rally, the president turned to his usual insults of Omar and Somalis.
“She comes from a country that’s a disaster…it’s not even a country. Okay? It barely has a government. I don’t think it does. They’re good at one thing: pirates,” said Trump.
“Let’s be clear: nonstop hate and dangerous rhetoric from Trump and his allies has fueled this type of violence. I stand with Rep. Omar. I stand with Minnesota. This must stop,” said Texas U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett following the attack on Omar.
The U.S. Senate candidate said she was “disgusted” and “outraged” by the violent incident, noting that Omar was simply “doing her job and meeting with constituents.”
In a public statement following the Tuesday attack, Rep. Omar’s congressional office assured that she was not harmed, writing on X, “I’m a survivor so this small agitator isn’t going to intimidate me from doing my work. I don’t let bullies win. Grateful to my incredible constituents who rallied behind me. Minnesota strong.”
