Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar was greeted by cheers and chants of 'Welcome home, Ilhan" when she arrived home in Minnesota Thursday night amid attacks from President Donald Trump and his supporters.
Trump told reporters Thursday that he "was not happy" that his supporters shouted "send her back" at a Wednesday night rally where he criticized Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and three other liberal Democratic congresswomen of color.
The chant, which broke out during a campaign rally in North Carolina, began after Trump falsely claimed that Omar has praised al-Qaida, according to The Associated Press. He also accused her of having "a history of launching vicious anti-Semitic screeds."
>> From Cox Media Group's Jamie Dupree: Trump disavows "Send her back" chant at campaign rally
Update 11:15 p.m. EDT July 18:
Dozens of supporters of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) gathered at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport Thursday night to welcome her home after a week filled with repeated attacks from President Donald Trump.
Omar posted video of her arrival on social media with the statement, "It's good to be home."
Update 2:30 p.m. EDT July 18: President Donald Trump told reporters Thursday that he "was not happy" that his supporters shouted "send her back" at a Wednesday night rally where he criticized Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and three other liberal Democratic congresswomen of color.
The chant, which broke out during a campaign rally in North Carolina, began after Trump falsely claimed that Omar has praised al-Qaida, according to The Associated Press. He also accused her of having "a history of launching vicious anti-Semitic screeds."
>> From Cox Media Group's Jamie Dupree: Trump disavows "Send her back" chant at campaign rally
Update 2:30 p.m. EDT July 18: The president told reporters Thursday that he doesn't endorse the message sent by his supporters Wednesday night after they responded to his criticism of Omar with chants of "Send her back."
"I was not happy with it -- I disagree with it," the president said. "I didn't like that they did it."
Original report: President Donald Trump continued to slam four freshman Democratic congresswomen Wednesday at a North Carolina campaign rally, claiming that the progressive lawmakers "don't love our country" and "are helping to fuel the rise of a dangerous, militant hard left."
Trump's remarks at the Greenville event came just days after he tweeted that the congresswomen should go back to the "totally broken and crime infested places from which they came." Trump did not mention their names in the tweets, but he appeared to be referring to U.S. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), who are all U.S. citizens and women of color.
Critics blasted Trump's tweets as racist, and the House of Representatives later voted to condemn his remarks, The Associated Press reported. Meanwhile, Trump defended his comments, telling reporters that the congresswomen "hate our country" and tweeting that he doesn't "have a Racist bone in [his] body."
At Wednesday's rally, Trump again blasted the congresswomen, this time criticizing each one by name. At one point, he falsely claimed that Omar has praised al-Qaida, according to the AP. He also accused her of having "a history of launching vicious anti-Semitic screeds."
"Send her back!" the crowd shouted in response.
Trump also criticized Tlaib for using "the F-word" to describe him and Ocasio-Cortez for having "three different names" and calling migrant detention centers "concentration camps," the AP reported. Pressley, he alleged, "thinks that people with the same skin color all need to think the same."
Omar responded Wednesday night by tweeting a quote from poet Maya Angelou.
"You may shoot me with your words, / You may cut me with your eyes, / You may kill me with your hatefulness, / But still, like air, I'll rise," the tweet read.
Omar later added: "I am where I belong, at the people's house and you're just gonna have to deal!"
Ocasio-Cortez added: "We have the power to triumph over hatred, division and bigotry."
– The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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