A Somali-American serving as the US Representative for Minnesota's 5th congressional district, first Muslim woman to wear hijab in Congress, Ilhan Omar, deleted a controversial tweet criticizing Covington Catholic students after it sparked a huge social media backlash.
Her tweet came in the midst of misreporting on the students' widely viewed confrontation with a Native American elder in Washington last week, Fox News reported.
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Many members of the media and several Hollywood heavyweights rushed to judgment after a video clip emerged Saturday that gave some critics an inaccurate impression that the teens were harassing a Native American man, Nathan Phillips, following a pro-life demonstration. However, another video clip provided context, showing Phillips approaching them amid a confrontation between the students and Black Hebrew Israelite protesters.
Many critics have retracted their statements since the additional clip was made public, however Omar on Tuesday night responded to President Trump’s tweet defending Covington student Nick Sandmann and his peers. She claimed the students were taunting the black protesters despite accounts to the contrary, while also referencing a videotaped comment about rape, though it's unclear whether it was one of the Covington students who said it or someone else.
"The boys were protesting a woman's right to choose & yelled 'it's not rape if you enjoy it'… They were taunting 5 Black men before they surrounded Phillips and led racist chants… Sandmann's family hired a right wing PR firm to write his non-apology," she wrote in a tweet, since deleted.
The original tweet faced a huge backlash, as social media users criticized her for misjudgment of the facts.
This is not the first time Omar has been in hot water over her social media presence. She was also criticized for a tweet claiming that Sen. Lindsey Graham was “compromised,” admitting later to CNN that it was her “opinion.”