Omar, one of three Muslim-Americans currently serving in Congress, hasn’t gotten fierce blowback from congressional Republicans and other leading political voices for comments she delivered Jan. 27 in her native tongue mostly to fellow native Somalis in her home state of Minnesota.
In the remarks, Omar identified herself as “Somalian first, Muslim second” and that as the U.S. representative for Minnesota’s Fifth District she is “here to protect the interests of Somalia from inside the U.S. system,” The Daily Caller reported, thus bringing her allegiance to the U.S. into question.
In her remarks, Omar addressed an agreement between Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia, and Ethiopia to give land-locked Ethiopia access to the Gulf of Aden, Newsweek reported.
The Gulf of Aden has made world news in recent months as treacherous waters for commercial shipping because of attacks from Iran-backed Houthi militants.
Omar, who immigrated to the U.S. as a child in the 1990s, rejected the translations - which appeared to come from a Somaliland official - as “slanted” and “completely off” in a social media post on X.
What Omar describes as "slanted" is a translation in which the congresswoman reportedly said she is "here to protect the interests of Somalia from inside the U.S. system."
“I wouldn’t expect more from these propagandists. I pray for them and for their sanity,” she wrote.
However, Ken Klukowski believes if the translations were that far off from Omar’s original comments, the news would be buzzing.
The former White House attorney told "Washington Watch" program Tuesday if the translations available on social media were “nothing short of propaganda, and totally divorced from the actual language that was used, one would think stories would have come out to that effect saying, ‘These words mean something totally different.’”
Rival deputy minister shared speech
That wasn’t what Rhoda J Elmi, the deputy minister of foreign affairs for Somaliland, had to say in response.
“The language she employed was regrettably unbecoming of both the office she holds and the constituents she represents. Furthermore, her use of ethno-racist rhetoric didn't escape attention and left many with a deep sense of disappointment,” Elmi wrote.
Elmi shared Omar's speech on Twitter, the Daily Caller story reported, which suggests the deputy minister wanted to point out the congressman bragged she was using her congressional seat to help Somalia.
If that was Elmi's goal, it appears to have worked.
“This was a very disturbing sentiment that she expressed, even if one or two words got garbled in translation,” Klukowski said.
Omar, now 41, was a Minnesota state representative plagued with campaign finance issues when she handily won a congressional race in 2018. She crushed her Republican opponent with 78% of the vote in the General Election. She has easily won re-election ever since in the 5th District.
DeSantis says ‘denaturalize’ her
It was so disturbing to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, until recently a GOP presidential candidate, that DeSantis called not only for Omar’s expulsion from Congress but her denaturalization as a U.S. citizen and ultimate deportation.
Klukowski said Omar’s comments are deeply disturbing on two fronts: Her oath to become a naturalized citizen of the United States and her oath as a House member to support and defend its Constitution.
In the citizenship oath “she swore that she would reject all foreign allegiances and that the United States of America would be her country now even against her former country if necessary. You’re saying, ‘If America actually goes into conflict with the land I came from, I will stand with America against the land I was born in,” Klukowski said.
In addition, the oath of office requires Omar to represent hundreds of thousands in her Minneapolis district and not “any particular religious or ethnic group whether from Somalia or anywhere else. Her job is to represent the people of her district in the United States House of Representatives and no one else,” Klukowski said.
