CLAIM: Video shows Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota telling interviewer: “I would say our country should be more fearful of white men across our country because they are actually causing most of the deaths within this country, we should be profiling, monitoring and creating policies to fight the radicalization of white men.”



AP’S ASSESSMENT: Mixture. While Omar did make those comments, a video that has been edited to remove a portion of her quote is being shared widely on social media.

THE FACTS: A video circulating online first aired by Christian Broadcast Network has been edited and does not show Rep. Omar’s complete statement during a February 2018 interview.

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In the original 10-minute interview, which aired on Al Jazeera’s show “UpFront” and is available in its entirety on the news network’s website, Omar was talking about immigration and race relations under President Donald Trump.

When host Mehdi Hasan asked Omar if conservatives could justify being fearful of Muslims because of terrorist attacks linked to extremists she responded with a 34-second answer.

“I would say our country should be more fearful of white men across our country because they are actually causing most of the deaths within this country,” Omar said. “So, if fear was the driving force of policies to keep Americans safe, Americans inside of this country, we should be profiling, monitoring and creating policies to fight the radicalization of white men.”

Omar was referring to studies that show a rise in killings by right-wing extremists, her spokesman Jeremy Slevin said in an email.

An edited version aired Tuesday by Christian Broadcast Network clipped a portion of Omar’s statement, leaving out the full context of her comment. The edited version removed: “So if fear was the driving force of policies to keep Americans safe, Americans inside this country...”

That video version of her comment was shared widely on Twitter and Facebook.

In a statement to The Associated Press, the network acknowledged editing Omar’s full quote for its broadcast. The interview was edited for a 3-minute broadcast on CBN for time constraints, said CBN spokesman Chris Roslan in an email.

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“The ten seconds of Rep. Omar’s quote that were edited out of the CBN story in no way changed the context of what she said,” Roslan said. “CBN did not manipulate or doctor Rep. Omar’s quote so as to mislead anyone as to what she said or to make her look bad.”

Al Jazeera did not return requests for comment. However, on Twitter, UpFront shared the original 2018 interview with a tweet Thursday that said, “The clip being widely shared of our interview with @IlhanMN has been selectively edited. Please watch @mehdirhasan’s original interview from February 2018.”

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This is part of The Associated Press’ ongoing effort to fact-check misinformation that is shared widely online, including work with Facebook to identify and reduce the circulation of false stories on the platform.



Here’s more information on Facebook’s fact-checking program: https://www.facebook.com/help/1952307158131536