Fox’s Kilmeade questions whether Omar is ‘an American first’ after 9/11 remarks

“Fox & Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade questioned Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-Minn.) loyalty to the United States on Wednesday, asking whether she “is an American first” and criticizing comments she made about the terrorists who carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Kilmeade took umbrage at remarks Omar made during a March 24 speech to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in Woodland Hills, Calif. The comments began circulating on social media on Tuesday.

{mosads}”Far too long we have lived with the discomfort of being a second-class citizen,” Omar said. “And frankly, I’m tired of it. And every single Muslim in this country should be tired of it. CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something, and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties.”

“Really?” Kilmeade said of the remarks. “‘Some people did something?’ You have to wonder if she is an American first.

“Can you imagine if she was representing your community, and you were in her district, how embarrassed you must feel today.”

Several Republican lawmakers also criticized Omar’s remarks. 

“First Member of Congress to ever describe terrorists who killed thousands of Americans on 9/11 as ‘some people who did something’. Unbelievable,” Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) wrote in a tweet that was retweeted nearly 20,000 times and liked more than 50,000 times.

First Member of Congress to ever describe terrorists who killed thousands of Americans on 9/11 as “some people who did something”.

Unbelievable. https://t.co/IKtoZWWmIT

— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) April 9, 2019

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel also slammed Omar while questioning Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) decision to allow her to stay on the House Foreign Relations Committee.

“What does Nancy Pelosi do with a terrorist sympathizing anti-Semite who’s loved by Louis Farrakhan?” asked McDaniel. “Gives her a spot on the Foreign Affairs Committee. If it weren’t clear *before* her unbelievable comments about 9/11, Ilhan Omar needs to go.”

What does Nancy Pelosi do with a terrorist sympathizing anti-Semite who’s loved by Louis Farrakhan?

Gives her a spot on the Foreign Affairs Committee.

If it weren’t clear *before* her unbelievable comments about 9/11, Ilhan Omar needs to go.

— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) April 10, 2019

Omar, 37, is one of the first two Muslim woman to serve in Congress.

She has repeatedly courted controversy, with remarks that twice have led to votes in the House, first to reject anti-Semitism and then to more broadly reject hatred and intolerance of various groups.