Representative Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, has fired back at the White House after it resurfaced a long-debunked allegation that she married her brother. Her sharp response on X went viral, drawing more than 10.2 million views and shifting from refuting the claim to pointedly asking: “is your President a pedophile?”
Why It Matters
Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly pushed the allegation that Omar married her brother, a claim that has been investigated and dismissed for years and that she has consistently denied. Omar, who has represented Minnesota in the House since 2019, has often been the target of anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim attacks related to her Somali background, her faith and her politics.
She is also one of the original members of “the Squad,” a group of progressive House Democrats who have frequently clashed with Trump and his allies.
What To Know
During a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Trump criticized Minnesota Governor Tim Walz over his handling of the state’s Somali immigrant community, accusing them of having “ripped off” Minnesota. He then turned his ire toward Omar, calling her “impotent” and “a real terrible person.”
Omar shared a clip of Trump’s remarks about her and Minnesota, posting on X on Tuesday: “His obsession with me is creepy. I hope he gets the help he desperately needs.” By Thursday, that post had been viewed nearly 8 million times.
In response, the official Rapid Response 47 White House account replied to her post: “Why did you marry your brother.” Trump has brought up this debunked allegation multiple times, including in a Thanksgiving message in which he described Omar as “always wrapped in her swaddling hijab” and suggested she “probably came into the U.S.A. illegally,” claiming she “does nothing but hatefully complain about our Country” and deriding her place of origin as “a decadent, backward, and crime ridden nation.”
Omar quote-posted the White House response and wrote: “I didn’t but is your President a pedophile?” That follow-up drew nearly 11 million views by Thursday.
Her pointed question comes after Trump’s name appeared in several documents released in November related to sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. Epstein had social ties with numerous high-profile figures, including politicians. Trump has repeatedly denied knowing about Epstein’s crimes and has said he cut off contact with him years before Epstein’s death in 2019.
What People Are Saying
On Wednesday, Trump escalated his remarks, saying that Omar “shouldn’t be allowed to be a congresswoman, and I’m sure people are looking at that. And she should be thrown the hell out of our country.”
Senator Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, posted on X on Tuesday: “When demagogues like Trump are in trouble, they reach for the same playbook: racism, hatred and division, this time against Rep. Ilhan Omar and the Somali-American community. It’s disgusting. It’s un-American. And it won’t work.”
