Presidential Candidate Gabbard:

Trump Acting as Al-Qaeda's Big Brother

TEHRAN (defapress)- 2020 presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard comes to the defense of her fellow Muslim congresswoman, Ilhan Omar, who was recently attacked by US President Donald Trump over remarks on 9/11 terror attacks, calling Trump the “big brother and protector” of Riyadh-sponsored al-Qaeda terror group.

News ID: 76873

Date: 17 April 2019 - 14:30

Gabbard posted a video on her Twitter account on Sunday, stating that Trump’s criticism of Omar was “complete hypocrisy”.

The Hawaii representative added that the American leader "says ‘WE WILL NEVER FORGET (9/11)!’, Yet it is Trump who’s been acting as al-Qaeda’s big brother and protector in Syria”.

She also slammed the US president for having turned “America into the prostitute of al-Qaeda's biggest supporter: the Saudis”.

Gabbard further blasted the Saudis for “spending billions of dollars spreading their exclusivist, radical” ideology around the world, “the very same ideology that has been inspiring al-Qaeda and ISIS (Daesh or ISIL) and other terrorists to carry out their barbaric acts”.

The September, 11, 2001 attacks, also known as the 9/11 attacks, were a series of strikes in the US which killed nearly 3,000 people and caused about $10 billion worth of property and infrastructure damage. Fifteen of the 19 al-Qaeda hijackers who carried out the attacks were Saudi nationals.

Speaking at the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) on Sunday, Omar stressed that the body had been “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.”

Trump launched a twitter attack against Omar, accusing her of diminishing 9/11. He tweeted, “WE WILL NEVER FORGET” alongside a video showing footage of the September 11, 2001 attacks spliced with a speech by Omar, one of the first Muslim women ever elected to Congress. However the video Trump shared took just one sentence from her speech, saying that “some people did something” on 9/11.

Trump has doubled down on his heated criticism of Omar, accusing the congresswoman of anti-Semitism and claiming “she is out of control”. Tweeting on Monday, Trump showed he wasn’t prepared to back down over the furor, accusing Omar of making “anti-Semitic, anti-Israel and ungrateful US HATE statements”.

Trump also called on top Democrat Nancy Pelosi to step in. Pelosi had earlier called on Trump to take down the video tweet, adding she has serious concerns for Omar’s safety due to the resulting outcry against the congresswoman.

Omar has stated that she has received an increase in death threats since Trump shared the edited video on Twitter.

“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 wrote in a statement.

“Violent rhetoric and all forms of hate speech have no place in our society, much less from our country’s Commander in Chief,” Omar added, saying, “We are all Americans. This is endangering lives. It has to stop.”

Weeks ago, a New York man was arrested for allegedly threatening to murder Omar.

Also, Trump is under fire from veteran Democrats in the Senate for his "disgusting" and "shameful" remarks on Omar. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, two Democrat presidential runners, have slammed Trump on Twitter.

House Democrats also rallied behind Omar on Monday as Trump escalated his attacks suggesting the freshman lawmaker downplayed the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

CAIR announced that Omar’s words about the 9/11 attacks had been taken out of context, condemning Trump’s “life-endangering” tweet, saying he uses “shocking imagery” to potentially incite violence against a Congresswoman while “exploiting a national tragedy” at the same time.

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