Dem Chairman Defends Ilhan Omar's Speech At CAIR: "I Saw Nothing Wrong With It"

Rep. Bennie Thompson, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said Sunday on ABC's "This Week" that he "saw nothing wrong" with Rep. Ilhan Omar's controversial comment about 9/11. Speaking to the Council on American Islamic Relations in March, Omar referred to the terror attack as an incident where "some people did something." President Trump tweeted a video condemning Omar's comments on Friday:



WE WILL NEVER FORGET! pic.twitter.com/VxrGFRFeJM — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 12, 2019

"I saw the speech she gave and I saw nothing wrong with it," Thompson said. "I saw the president’s manufactured tweet where he put pieces in there."







REP. BENNIE THOMPSON: Well I saw the speech she gave and I saw nothing wrong with it. I saw the president’s manufactured tweet where he put pieces in there.



But George, we are a nation of laws, a democracy, free speech is here, and again I saw nothing wrong with the congresswoman’s speech.



STEPHANOPOULOS: You say you saw nothing wrong with it but she did characterize, you know, the most deadly attack ever on American soil – terrorist attack ever on American soil, a cold blooded mass murder as some people did something.



That does seem to downplay the importance or what happened on 9/11, doesn’t it?



THOMPSON: Oh, there’s no question about it, we had over 3,000 people who got killed at that event. So there’s nothing to downplay on it. But again, she spoke to it, I think the president is just seizing that moment, manufacturing what he said and then moving forward with a traditional speech.



So I think there are other issues we have to deal with in this country.



STEPHANOPOULOS: So just to be clear on that though, you agree that characterizing it as some people did something is not the proper way to characterize 9/11.



THOMPSON: Well no question about it, but again, if I look at what the president says on a daily basis, we could criticize him almost by the hour. So for him to take the congresswoman on is just another one of his what I think real simplistic attacks.