One of America's first Muslim congresswomen has vowed not to be silenced after Donald Trump led an attack on her for controversial remarks she made about 9/11.

Rep Ilhan Omar of Minnesota sparked a furious row after she characterised the atrocity by saying “some people did something” during a speech in Los Angeles last month to the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

On Friday, President Trump tweeted a video tagged “WE WILL NEVER FORGET” which featured footage of the Twin Towers in flames interspersed with Miss Omar's comments. Hours later, a man was arrested for threatening to kill the former refugee who came to the US from Somalia as a child.

Undeterred, the 37-year-old tweeted this weekend: “I did not run for Congress to be silent. I did not run for Congress to sit on the sidelines. I ran because I believed it was time to restore moral clarity and courage to Congress. To fight and to defend our democracy.”

While most fellow members of the Democratic Party leaped to her defence, rounding on Mr Trump for pushing anti Muslim rhetoric and inciting racial hatred, Nancy Pelosi, the most senior Democrat in the House of Representative, was notably measured in her reaction.