Rep. Omar says racism has always been a part of President Trump
Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar addresses her ongoing feud with the president at the Muslim Collective for Equitable Democracy event; Mark Meredith reports from the conference.
In a resurfaced interview from 2018, anti-Trump Democrat Ilhan Omar responded to a question about the "quote-unquote legitimate fears" some people have of "jihadist terrorism," by saying Americans should be "more fearful of white men."
In the interview, Al Jazeera host Medhi Hasan said some Americans feel justified in fearing Islam, not out of hate but for their own safety, before listing a number of radical Islamic terror attacks. Omar dismissed this suggestion immediately and laid the blame on white males instead, calling for the profiling and monitoring of caucasian men.
"I would say our country should be more fearful of white men across our country because they are actually causing most of the deaths within this country," she replied.
"And so if fear was the driving force of policies to keep America safe -- Americans safe inside of this country -- we should be profiling, monitoring, and creating policies to fight the radicalization of white men."
GIULINI SLAMS REP. OMAR'S 9/11 COMMENTS: 'YOU CAN'T BE MORE ANTI-AMERICAN THAN THAT'
This isn't the first time Omar has been criticized for making controversial statements with regard to Islam.
She has been publicly challenged on quotes about Al Queda and the 9/11 terror attacks, most specifically when she appeared at a Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) fundraiser earlier this year and described the carnage from September 11th as, "some people did something."
"CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties," she said.
Omar also recently was involved in a public Twitter spat with President Trump over her attitude towards America, and Trump told reporters Omar should leave the U.S. if she's unhappy with how the country operates.
"If somebody has a problem with our country, if somebody doesn’t want to be in our country, they should leave," he told reporters earlier this month.
Trump also addressed the issue at his North Carolina political rally on July 17 and claimed Omar laughed about Americans being afraid of Al Qaeda.
"Omar minimized the Sept. 11 attacks on our homeland, saying 'some people did something,'" Trump said "'Some people did something?' Yeah, some people did something, alright. She pleaded for compassion for ISIS recruits attempting to join the terrorist organization. She was looking for compassion.
"Omar laughed that Americans speak of Al Qaeda in a menacing tone, and remarked that, 'You don't say 'America' with this intensity. You say 'Al Qaeda,' makes you proud. Al Qaeda! Makes you proud. You don't speak that way about America.'"
Fox News' Gregg Re and Charles Creitz contributed to this report