Rep. Ilhan Omar blasted a news outlet last week for allegedly misquoting her criticism of former President Barack Obama. But the move backfired after she released audio of the interview that only confirmed her remarks.
The Minnesota Democrat slammed Obama’s “hope and change” message as a “mirage” and noted that his border and immigration policies were similar to Trump’s.
“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,” Omar told Politico. “And that’s not what we should be looking for anymore. 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.”
In a tweet Friday tweet, however, she said that her remarks had been “distorted” in the article and that she is definitely a “fan” of Obama’s.
“Exhibit A of how reporters distort words. I’m an Obama fan! I was saying how Trump is different from Obama, and why we should focus on policy not politics. This is why I always tape my interviews,” she tweeted, attaching the audio recording of the interview.
But the recording confirmed she actually made the comments and by Saturday afternoon, she had deleted the tweet.
“I think for many of us, we think of ourselves as Democrats. But many of the ways that our Democratic leaders have conducted themselves within the system is not one that we are all proud of,” she said in the recording.
“You know, I will talk about the family separation or caging of kids and then people will point out that this was wrong – I mean this was Obama. And you know 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. What is happening now is very different. A lot is happening with secrecy. It’s happening with the feel-good polished way of talking about it.
“And when we talk about waking people up from complacency, it’s to say that 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,” she continued.
“And that’s not what we should be looking for anymore. 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.”
