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AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman.
Democratic Congressmember Ilhan Omar was attacked at a town hall meeting in Minneapolis Tuesday night. She had organized the meeting to respond to President Trump’s deadly militarized immigration crackdown in Minnesota. A man who had been sitting in the front row at the town hall rushed at Omar and sprayed her with a strong-smelling liquid from a syringe.
REP. ILHAN OMAR: DHS Secretary Kristi Noem must resign or face impeachment.
AMY GOODMAN: Authorities arrested the attacker, 55-year-old Anthony Kazmierczak. Congressmember Omar insisted on continuing with the town hall after the attack. These are some of the excerpts from the town hall, starting before the attack, then moving into it and playing what happened after.
REP. ILHAN OMAR: In the 5th, we oftentimes talk about how important it is for us to co-govern together, and I am really delighted for this showing. …
The level of violence, federal overreach, lawlessness carried out in the name of immigration enforcement is unprecedented. U.S. citizens are being assaulted and detained. Minnesotans are expected to carry their citizenship papers. People are dying in ICE custody. …
Trump and his paramilitary immigration enforcement will not get away with their unlawful attacks on our state. The Constitution is on our side, and we will fight every single day to defend it.
As it’s been said, real justice and accountability starts with full, transparent investigation and legal action against ICE, followed by the abolishment of the agency. …
Renee Good should be alive. Alex Pretti should still be alive. Please, let’s take a moment of silence for Alex and Renee. …
ICE cannot be reformed. It cannot be rehabilitated. We must abolish ICE for good.
And DHS Secretary Kristi Noem must resign or face impeachment.
ANTHONY KAZMIERCZAK: [inaudible] resigning. [inaudible]
AUDIENCE MEMBERS: Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!
AIDE 1: What did he spray on her?
AUDIENCE MEMBER 1: What is that?
AIDE 1: What did he spray?
REP. ILHAN OMAR: I don’t know.
AUDIENCE MEMBER 1: I have no idea!
AIDE 1: Oh my god!
AUDIENCE MEMBER 2: Oh my god!
AIDE 1: Oh my god! He sprayed something on her.
REP. ILHAN OMAR: I need a napkin.
AUDIENCE MEMBER 1: He sprayed something!
AIDE 1: He sprayed something.
REP. ILHAN OMAR: I need to — I need a napkin. …
AIDE 1: Whatever it is smells so bad. She needs to go get checked. I don’t know what that was.
REP. ILHAN OMAR: That’s what he — that’s what they want. Please don’t let them have it. Please. Please.
AIDE 1: No. It’s not about him, Ilhan.
REP. ILHAN OMAR: Please.
AIDE 1: Ilhan, it’s not about him.
REP. ILHAN OMAR: Please.
AIDE 1: It’s about your safety. No, he sprayed something on you.
REP. ILHAN OMAR: Please.
AIDE 1: You need to go get checked.
AIDE 2: It’s right there, too.
AIDE 1: Yeah, and it smells terrible.
AIDE 2: It smells really bad.
REP. ILHAN OMAR: We’re going to keep talking. …
And like I said, if she does not resign, we are going to introduce articles of impeachment. …
The children that are afraid to go to schools, the mothers and fathers that are afraid to drop them off, you know, the elderly shop owners at Karmel Mall, they’re all citizens. But they don’t want the trauma of seeing men with heavy machine guns, because that is who they escaped to come to the United States. They don’t want to go through a checkpoint, because that is what they escaped to come to the United States. They don’t want a gun drawn on them asking for their identification, because that’s what they escaped. …
It’s truly heartbreaking, this moment we find ourselves in. But if we know anything about U.S. history, it’s that everything is temporary, and we will find our way out of this. So, thank you all.
AMY GOODMAN: That was Minnesota Democratic Congressmember Ilhan Omar speaking at last night’s town hall event in Minneapolis after she was attacked by a man who sprayed her with a strong-smelling liquid from a syringe. Her security tackled him. The man was arrested. Just hours before Congresswoman Omar was assaulted, President Trump openly mocked her during a rally in Iowa.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: They have to show that they can love our country. They have to be proud, not like Ilhan Omar. Did you see what — did you see that wise guy? You know, she’s always talking about, “The Constitution provides me with the following. You know, the Constitution” — she comes from a country that’s a disaster.
AMY GOODMAN: The attack on Minneapolis Congresswoman Ilhan Omar comes just days after Florida Democratic Congressmember Maxwell Frost was assaulted by a man during a party at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah. The man was heard making racial slurs at Frost, who is the first Afro-Cuban to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Coming up, we’ll speak to Democratic Congressmember Delia Ramirez of Illinois, and we’ll also speak with a former Border Patrol agent who’s now speaking out against her former agency. Stay with us.
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AMY GOODMAN: “North Winds” by Thomas Pritchard and [Kaid Hussain].
