WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar’s apology for suggesting that members of Congress support Israel because they are being paid to do so was “lame” and that she should resign.
In a pair of tweets over the weekend, the Minnesota Democrat, who is one of the first two Muslim women to serve in Congress, criticized the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC. “It’s all about the Benjamins baby,” she wrote, using slang for $100 bills.
President Trump: "Anti-Semitism has no place in the United States Congress… I think [Rep. Ilhan Omar] should either resign from Congress or she should certainly resign from the House Foreign Affairs Committee." https://t.co/Ic1orehwY3 pic.twitter.com/mbvpxoMlO9
— The Hill (@thehill) February 12, 2019
Asked on Twitter who she thought was paying members of Congress to support Israel, Omar responded, “AIPAC!”
Trump told reporters at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday that “anti-Semitism has no place in the United States Congress.”
The president said it was “terrible” what Omar said. “I think she should either resign from Congress or she should certainly resign from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. What she said is so deep-seated in her heart.”
He said her apology was “lame and she didn’t mean a word of it.”
Omar said she had no intention of offending anyone, including Jewish Americans, when she insinuated that lobbyists were paying lawmakers to support Israel. She “unequivocally” apologized.
https://twitter.com/jimkohl/status/1095392879248195584
Giving Trump’s call for @IlhanMN to resign any more than a moment’s oxygen is a mistake — that is unless framed against his own voluminous track record of casual bigotry, not to mention the arguably more anti-Semitic messaging of the House minority leader
— Ishaan Tharoor (@ishaantharoor) February 12, 2019
As if Trump gives a sh-t about antisemitism. This makes me so fu$&ing angry – Trump needs to resign, not Rep. Ilhan Omar. 😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡 https://t.co/LvrUymakPl
— IAmAGoodDalek (@Ndreajess) February 12, 2019
