House Dems warn Omar in 'imminent danger' after Trump rally chants
House Democrats erupted in fury Thursday over President Donald Trump’s attacks on freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar at his reelection rally, fearful that crowd chants of “send her back” have personally endangered her and her family.
Senior Democrats are now calling for authorities to evaluate security for Omar (D-Minn.), as well as the three other lawmakers who Trump called out by name at his Wednesday night rally in North Carolina — warning that Trump has escalated the risk of threats or even acts of violence toward the four minority freshmen.
“It’s crystal clear to me that her life is in imminent danger,” said Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), a senior member of the Congressional Black Caucus. “He has threatened the safety of a member of Congress. That takes this to a whole different level.”
“It’s bad enough that the president didn’t stop the chant last night. But he started it. It’s instilling fear, it’s going to instill violence,” added Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), the House’s No. 4 Democrat.
Trump disavowed the "send her back" chant on Thursday, telling reporters, “I was not happy with it. I disagree with it.” The chant started as Trump was falsely claiming that Omar praised Al-Qaeda — an untruth he has repeated several times in recent days — and the president then paused his speech for several seconds as the audience continued.
Omar told reporters Thursday that she wasn't worried about her personal safety but feared for Americans of color who she thinks could become a target after Trump's comments.
"When you have a president who clearly thinks someone like me should go back, the message that he’s sending is not for me, it’s to every single person who shares an identity with me," she said.
The Minnesota Democrat also warned of the dangers of bigotry.
“Racism distracts, racism hurts, racism kills,” Omar said. “What I’m going to be busy doing is uplifting people and making sure that they understand here in this country we are all Americans, we are all welcome regardless of what he says.”
Democrats' public reaction Thursday comes as an internal debate is playing out within the caucus. Lawmakers are divided over how to respond to Trump if he continues to attack the four high-profile freshman congresswomen, making it a dominant theme of his campaign.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), one of the lawmakers Trump railed against Wednesday night and in tweets over the weekend, said she has concerns over her safety and is discussing with Democrats whether to ask for additional security.
“This president is evolving, as predicted, deeper into the rhetoric of racism which evolves into violence,” she said. "We are not in politics anymore. We are in racism — really we’re talking about fascistic government."
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that Democrats spoke with the Sergeant-at-Arms office before Wednesday night “about making sure that our members have what they need for their protection."
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said he plans to once again ask Capitol Police to reevaluate their security protocols for Omar and the other freshmen.
“There are some people who are easily influenced, and I’m afraid the president is part and parcel to the potential danger of those members of Congress. So we’ll have it looked at,” Thompson said in an interview Thursday.
House Democrats overwhelmingly voted on Tuesday to condemn Trump's racist remarks against Omar, Ocasio-Cortez and Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), in which he said the four women of color should "go back" to another country.
But the issue continued to dominate the week, overshadowing a victory for House Democrats Thursday when the caucus overwhelmingly passed a universal minimum wage bill, fulfilling a major campaign promise after months of private battles between liberals and moderates.
"The president is a bully, I think the president is ignorant. And it is a difficult half-full, half-empty [glass situation] because we know this," said Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) about the internal debate over how to continue to respond to Trump.
Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), leader of House Democrats' messaging arm, said the chants were one of the "most vile, repulsive, disgraceful, un-American things I’ve ever seen in my life." But, he added, Democrats knew when they passed the resolution earlier this week it was unlikely to deter Trump.
"We did what Congress can do. We did a strong resolution of condemnation," he said. "I don’t think anyone who voted for the resolution of condemnation thought for a moment it would change his behavior.”
In the meantime, senior Democrats are focusing on the most immediate issue at hand — whether additional security precautions should be taken to protect the four congresswomen.
"If I were her I would immediately call the FBI and say what do I need for protection," said Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). "It’s hard to believe she’s not going to get threats coming out of a rally last night.”
House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries also suggested Thursday that the four freshmen might require more security in light of Trump’s attacks, with a crowd of thousands chanting to “send her back.”
“We need to make sure that every single member of the House Democratic caucus, particularly those who have been viciously targeted by Donald Trump, including at the rally last night, are safe and have the protection that they need,” Jeffries said.
Other Democrats responded with rage at Trump’s comments at the capacity-crowd rally at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., where he said the freshmen lawmakers “hate our country.” Then he added: “You know what? If they don’t love it, tell them to leave it” — prompting the raucous crowd into chants.
Three of the progressive freshman lawmakers were born in America and Omar, who emigrated from Somalia as a child, became a citizen in 2000 at age 17.
But Democrats say his rhetoric at Wednesday's rally, where he encouraged crowd chants, crossed yet another line as they feared a rise in personal threats against the four lawmakers of color, including two of Congress's first Muslim women.
“The president’s comments are extremely dangerous to any person that looks like me. The fact that her continued to incite his supporters the way his just tells me that he frankly doesn’t give a damn about the safety of Americans,” Rep. Norma Torres (D-Calif.) said.
“Dangerous, obscene, racist, disgusting, quite frankly un-American,” Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) said of the comments.
Andrew Desiderio and Burgess Everett contributed to this report.
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine
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via DMT.NEWS jbresnahan@politico.com (John Bresnahan), Khareem Sudlow
