Democratic squad member Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), reacting to outrage about a resurfaced video of her in which she outrageously compares U.S. detention centers for migrants at the southern border to the African slave trade, said on Sunday that she’s “only controversial because “people seem to want the controversy.”

The liberal progressive — who’s been under scrutiny for anti-Semitic comments and other controversial remarks since she was elected last fall in the 2018 midterms — shared her thoughts  during an appearance on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” with Margaret Brennan, as Fox News noted.

Close

When the host asked her whether she was indeed making such a comparison in that video, Omar replied, “I’m only controversial because people seem to want the controversy.”

Close political observers can’t help asking: Does this weak and deflective explanation not seem awfully close to her earlier comments that “some people did something” on 9/11? And how about taking some personal responsibility for controversy she created by her own words about the detention centers and the slave trade — and by acknowledging it outright, not trying to turn it around toward others?

Shared over the weekend by the Republican National Committee on a Twitter account, the resurfaced Omar video in question shows the progressive congresswoman speaking to a group about a trip she took to Ghana.

In the clip, she’s shown discussing a 400-year-old dungeon in which Africans were held captive and separated by gender.

She said a tour guide’s description of the dungeon gave her flashbacks to images she’d seen of Libya – where a slave trade has been ongoing — as well as to images she’d seen of migrant detention camps in the U.S., as Fox News described it.

“And so, of a story that happened 400 years ago, I constantly had this reminder, this horrifying image, of many of the things that were taking place there in that dungeon, now taking place, whether it is taking place in the shores of North Africa or in the shores of the United States,” said Omar.

Should Trump keep building the wall?

By completing the poll, you agree to receive emails from LifeZette, occasional offers from our partners and that you've read and agree to our privacy policy and legal statement.

Related: Oh, Omar! She Claims She Loves This Country More Than Those Who Were Born Here

Yet she absolutely insisted afterward that she meant for the two comparisons to be treated separately.

“There is always an implied intent with every conversation I have,” she said.

She also maintained her comments were not an attack on Border Patrol agents.

Here’s Omar’s “Face the Nation” appearance, below: