Home WebMail Friday, November 1, 2024, 01:29 PM | Calgary | -0.8°C | Regions Advertise Login | Our platform is in maintenance mode. Some URLs may not be available. |
Posted: 2024-02-01T17:20:15Z | Updated: 2024-02-01T17:20:15Z

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) introduced a resolution to censure Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) over comments she made at an event celebrating an election in Somalia, where she was born, on Jan. 27. Theres one big problem: Omar didnt make the comments presented in the resolution.

The comments in question stem from a speech Omar gave at an event in Minneapolis, which has a sizable Somali immigration population, celebrating a regional election in Somalia. Omar is a Somali immigrant whose family received asylum in the U.S. in 1995 when she was around 13 years old. In her speech, she discussed an important issue for Somalis, the breakaway region of Somaliland, which Ethiopia has recognized as a separate nation.

Greenes resolution alleges that Omar violated her oath as a member of Congress to defend and protect the United States by declaring allegiance to Somalia in her comments.

The U.S. government will do only what Somalians in the U.S. tell them to do. They will do what we want and nothing else. They must follow our orders, and that is how we will safeguard the interest of Somalia, the resolution claims that Omar said. For as long as I am in Congress, Somalia will never be in danger. Its waters will not be waters will not be stolen by Ethiopia. Sleep in comfort knowing I am here to protect the interests of Somalia from inside the U.S. system.

But Omar did not say these things. Her speech was given in Somali, and a translation containing the quotes Greene cites later circulated on conservative social media accounts before the conservative news site Alpha News picked it up. The Alpha News article states that the site has not independently verified the accuracy of the translation.