April 15, 2019

Ilhan Omar Says Death Threats Have Surged Since Trump’s 9/11 Tweet

“We are all Americans. This is endangering lives. It has to stop.”

Alex Edelman/ZUMA

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In a statement late Sunday, Rep. Ilhan Omar revealed that she has been subjected to an increase in death threats in the wake of President Donald Trump’s tweet on Friday that combined remarks by the Minnesota Democrat with graphic images of the 9/11 attacks. 

The tweet, which remains on the president’s social media account, has drawn widespread condemnation. Critics have accused the president of using a video that lifted out of context comments Omar made during a Muslim civil rights event last month to make it appear as though she was trivializing the 9/11 attacks. 

“Since the president’s tweet Friday evening, I have experienced an increase in direct threats on my life—many directly referencing or replying to the president’s video,” Omar said. “Violent rhetoric and all forms of hate speech have no place in our society, much less from our country’s Commander in Chief.”

“We are all Americans,” she continued. “This is endangering lives. It has to stop.”

Omar’s statement came shortly after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi released her own statement on Sunday announcing that she had been in communication with US Capitol Police to “safeguard” Omar, one of the only two Muslim women in Congress. The top Democrat also called on Trump to remove the video, which she slammed as “hateful and inflammatory,” from his Twitter page.

One week before Trump’s video, law enforcement officials announced that a man describing himself as a Trump-loving patriot had been arrested for issuing a death threat against Omar. The president is scheduled to travel to Minnesota on Monday for an economic round table. 

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

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And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

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