President Donald Trump was condemned on Wednesday for tweeting out a smear about Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) dancing on the 18th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
“IIhan Omar, a member of AOC Plus 3, will win us the Great State of Minnesota. The new face of the Democrat Party!” wrote Trump in a tweet that linked to a post by right-wing comedian Terrence K. Williams, who falsely claimed that Omar, one of the first Muslim-American women to serve in Congress, “partied on the anniversary of 9/11.”
The original tweet smearing Omar, which has since been taken down, featured a video of the freshman lawmaker dancing at a Congressional Black Caucus event over the weekend — not on the 9/11 anniversary.
While Twitter has policies in place to remove libelous political attacks, Williams deleted the offending tweet voluntarily; however, the president’s post sharing the smear is still on the site and has racked up tens of thousands of likes and retweets. Trump was fiercely condemned for the smear, with many media figures raising questions about Twitter’s policy of keeping all presidential tweets on the site, despite the constant threats against Omar’s life due to false, right-wing attacks.
Check out a few of the reactions below:
[featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]