New Jersey

Omar Defends Comments After Criticism From 9/11 Mourner

During a March speech at a Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) event, Omar highlighted how many American Muslims saw their civil liberties curtailed in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., sought on Sunday to clarify a comment she made about the September 11th terror attacks after one mourner referenced the remark during a memorial event this week, NBC News reports.

"9/11 was an attack on all Americans," Omar told CBS's "Face the Nation." "It was an attack on all of us. And I certainly could not understand the weight of the pain that the victims of the families of 9/11 must feel. But I think it is really important for us to make sure that we are not forgetting, right, the aftermath of what happened after 9/11."

"Many Americans found themselves now having their civil rights stripped from them," she continued. "And so what I was speaking to was the fact that as a Muslim, not only was I suffering as an American who was attacked on that day, but the next day I woke up as my fellow Americans were now treating me a suspect."

At a Manhattan memorial commemorating the anniversary of the attacks on Wednesday, Nicholas Haros Jr. of New Jersey took the stage wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with "some people did something," highlighting a past remark from Omar.

"Today I am here to respond to you, exactly who did what to whom," Haros, who lost his mother, Francis Haros, in the attack, said. "We know who and what was done, there's no uncertainty about that."

Contact Us