Omar, a Somali American Congress member, says the attacks are the latest instance of hardline Republican ‘Islamophobia’.’
US Congress member Ilhan Omar has repeatedly said she has been attacked by Republicans due to her ethnicity [Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo]
Washington, DC – A new Republican firestorm has ignited around United States Congress member Ilhan Omar — this time over alleged statements she made during a speech to Somali Americans.
The only problem, according to two independent analyses of the speech, is that the words that fuelled the uproar appear to be mistranslated.
Omar is accused of saying in Somali that she would put foreign interests before those of the US — but multiple news outlets have since debunked the accusations, pointing to major flaws in a viral translation of her speech.
That, however, did not stop firebrand Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene from seizing on the speech. On Thursday, she introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives to censure Omar, who is the first Somali American and first former African refugee to serve in the US Congress.
Greene accused Omar of “serving as a foreign agent for a foreign country”. In an apparently intentional gaffe, she referred to Omar as the representative from “Somali — I mean, Minnesota”.
Her resolution comes one day after House Majority Whip Tom Emmer demanded an ethics investigation into Omar. Florida governor and former Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis also called for Omar to be “deported”.
For her part, Omar quickly rejected the attacks, saying they were only the latest attempt by Republicans to weaponise her ethnicity and religion.