Blamed for Fueling Assault on Ilhan Omar, Trump Says ‘She Probably Had Herself Sprayed’
"Nonstop hate and dangerous rhetoric from Trump and his allies has fueled this type of violence," said Rep. Jasmine Crockett .
President Donald Trump reacted dismissively to news that an assailant sprayed an unidentified substance at US Rep. Ilhan Omar during a town hall meeting, and insinuated without a shred of evidence that she may have staged the attack herself.
ABC News reporter Rachel Scott on Wednesday asked Trump if he had seen video of the incident, in which a man named Anthony Kazmierczak charged toward Omar (D-Minn.) and sprayed her with an unknown substance from a syringe before being restrained by security forces.
Shortly after, Kazmierczak was taken into police custody and charged with third-degree assault.
Trump indicated that he hadn't seen the video, and then started lobbing personal insults at the Minnesota congresswoman.
"I think she's a fraud," Trump told Scott. "I really don't think about that. She probably had herself sprayed, knowing her."
When Scott asked Trump to clarify whether he'd seen the video or not, he said he hadn't, before adding, "I hope I don't have to bother" watching it.
There is no evidence whatsoever that Omar arranged to have someone attack her, and social media posts uncovered by the Daily Beast suggest that Kazmierczak was a Trump supporter.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) pointed the finger at Trump and Vice President JD Vance shortly after the attack on Omar.
"It is not a coincidence that after days of President Trump and VP Vance putting Rep. Omar in their crosshairs with slanderous public attacks, she gets assaulted at her town hall," Ocasio-Cortez wrote in a social media post. "Thank God she is okay. If they want leaders to take down the temp, they need to look in the mirror."
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) said she was "disgusted and outraged" by the attack on Omar, and she laid the blame for the assault on Trump.
"Let’s be clear: nonstop hate and dangerous rhetoric from Trump and his allies has fueled this type of violence," she wrote. "I stand with Rep. Omar. I stand with Minnesota. This must stop."
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz also condemned the attack on Omar, insisting that "the cruel, inflammatory, dehumanizing rhetoric by our nation’s leaders needs to stop immediately."
