Embattled Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) tried again to walk back her recent scathing criticisms of former President Barack Obama by instead bashing President Donald Trump — saying that one president “is human and the other is really not.”
Omar (pictured above right) has been engulfed in controversy since she entered Congress two months ago.
In particular, Omar has faced multiple accusations of making anti-Semitic comments.
But the congresswoman stunned many when she delivered some harsh words for Obama — a popular president whom Democrats still revere.
Related: Omar Reacts to Anti-Hate Resolution
Omar responded to questions from a Fox News reporter on Monday as she walked down the halls of the Capitol Building
“That is silly to even think, and equate the two. One is human, the other is really not,” Omar said before stepping into an elevator.
Omar spoke with Politico Magazine’s Tim Alberta for an interview published on Friday. She gave the interview before the most recent controversy surrounding her perceived anti-Semitic comments took many by storm.
The House ultimately passed a resolution last Thursday condemning all hatred and bigotry. The resolution originally was supposed to condemn anti-Semitism in response to the Omar controversy specifically. But Democrats caved and broadened the resolution after some vocal progressives defended Omar and said she’d been unfairly targeted.
The congresswoman criticized Obama’s iconic calls for “hope and change” in her interview with Alberta, saying they were inconsistent with his administration’s policies.
“Recalling the ‘caging of kids’ at the U.S.-Mexico border and the ‘droning of countries around the world’ on Obama’s watch, she argues that the Democratic president operated within the same fundamentally broken framework as his Republican successor,” Alberta wrote, summarizing her words.
Related: Ilhan Omar Slams ‘Pretty Face’ Barack Obama Who Got ‘Away with Murder’
Omar argued, “We can’t be only upset with [President Donald] Trump.”
“His policies are bad, but many of the people who came before him also had really bad policies. They just were more polished than he was,” she said to him. “And that’s not what we should be looking for anymore. We don’t want anybody to get away with murder because they are polished. We want to recognize the actual policies that are behind the pretty face and the smile.”
After facing swift backlash for those words, Omar tried to tamp down the outrage by posting audio of her interview on Twitter.
She insisted she was an “Obama fan” and that Alberta “distorted” her comments.
But she deleted that tweet after many of those who listened to the audio still thought it supported Alberta’s representation of her words.
Alberta himself replied to Omar, tweeting, “Exhibit A of how politicians use the media as a straw man to avoid owning what they said. Your tape … supports what I wrote 100 percent. So does my longer tape. It’s beyond dispute. Next time, a phone call from your office before the Twitter ambush would be appreciated.”
Exhibit A of how politicians use the media as a straw man to avoid owning what they said.
Your tape…supports what I wrote 100%. So does my longer tape. It's beyond dispute.
Next time, a phone call from your office before the Twitter ambush would be appreciated. https://t.co/eb2grgn5Cd
— Tim Alberta (@TimAlberta) March 8, 2019
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