WASHINGTON: US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has been at the center of controversy after she suggested former President Barack Obama is a “pretty face” who “got away with murder”.
In an interview with Politico published Friday, the Democratic Representative of Minnesota, an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump also criticize Mr Obama for the “caging of kids” and “droning of countries around the world.”
Omar was quoted as saying: “We can’t be only upset with 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.”
“You know I will talk about the family separation or caging of kids and people will point out that this was Trump — I mean this was Obama. I mean I’ll say something about the droning of countries around the world and people will say that was Obama. And all of that is very true,” Omar, who posted audio of the specific portion of the interview on Twitter, said.
[also_read url=”https://www.siasat.com/news/us-muslim-lawmakers-tweet-sparks-anti-semitism-charges-1467472/”]US Muslim lawmaker’s tweet sparks anti-Semitism charges[/also_read]
“We can’t be only upset with Trump because he’s not a politician who sells us his policies in the most perfect way. 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, and that’s not what we should be looking for anymore,” Omar added. “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 so that we can understand the kind of negative impact, or positive impact they will have on us for generations to come.”
Omar, a Somali refugee was elected last November, one of the first two Muslim women to have been elected to the US Congress.