U.S. President Donald Trump blasted Democratic U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar, saying she was an "out of control" purveyor of "hate" speech before leaving for a visit to the Muslim-American congresswoman's state, Monday.
Trump blasted both Omar and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for defending Omar after he tweeted a video on Friday blasting Omar for her dismissive remarks on the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
"Before Nancy, who has lost all control of Congress and is getting nothing done, decides to defend her leader, Rep. Omar, she should look at the anti-Semitic, anti-Israel and ungrateful U.S. HATE statements Omar has made," Trump tweeted. "She is out of control, except for her control of Nancy!"
Omar's and Pelosi's offices had no comment on Monday.
The Minnesota congresswoman said on Sunday evening that she had experienced "an increase in direct threats on my life - many directly referencing or replying to the president's video."
"Violent rhetoric and all forms of hate speech have no place in our society, much less from our country's Commander in Chief. We are all Americans. This is endangering lives. It has to stop," Omar wrote in a tweet.
An adviser to Trump's 2020 re-election campaign, denied Trump was inciting violence.
"I don't think it is the president who's putting her in danger. I think it's her ill-thought-out words that she used to describe the greatest terror attack on the history of United States soil," Matt Lotter told CNN, Monday.
The video tweeted by Trump spliced news footage of the Sept. 11 attacks with a clip from a speech Omar gave last month in which she said "some people did something" in reference to the attacks.
Lawmakers from Trump's Republican Party have accused Omar of minimizing the 2001 attacks, while critics of the president say he took Omar's words out of context in order to stoke anti-Muslim sentiment.
The Minnesota branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations held a rally in support of Omar, Monday.
Protesters called on Democratic leaders in Washington to stand up for Omar.
Democrats "could have done more to help out, but in the end, I think they care more about their image," said Abdirahman Abdullahi, an area resident who attended the rally.
About 200 people rallied in support of Omar while another 200 supporters of Trump gathered across the street and waved American flags.
Omar was speaking at a CAIR banquet in California in March when she made the controversial remarks about the Sept. 11 attacks. Omar also said Muslims had "lived with the discomfort of being a second-class citizen and, frankly, I'm tired of it, and every single Muslim in this country should be tired of it."
