Trump's false al Qaeda accusation against Rep. Ilhan Omar was planned — and misspelled

(Image credit: NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)

published 15 July 2019

President Trump needed to remind himself to shower Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) in falsities.

Trump tweeted a racist attack on Omar and three other Democratic congressmembers on Sunday, suggesting they "go back and help fix" the "countries" they came from. And in doubling down on that attack Monday, Trump falsely accused Omar of "speaking about how wonderful Al Qaeda is," despite Omar having no ties to the terrorist group and Trump having no idea how to spell it.

During his Monday press conference, Trump said he didn't think his tweets attacking the freshmen Democrats were racist "at all" before repeatedly suggesting Omar's "statements about al Qaeda" were laudatory in some way. Omar has angered Republicans with some of her tweets, but she's never praised al Qaeda. The Washington Post's Jabin Botsford later shared these photos he captured at the conference, which show that Trump's notes were covered in black marker scribbles reminding him to bring up the mysterious "alcaida" and the even vaguer "some people."

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.

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