Donald Trump is back on his Ilhan Omar obsession, and now he is talking about the possibility of throwing a sitting congresswoman in jail, stripping her of her citizenship, and deporting her. And he's not stopping there. He's taking aim at Somali Americans, questioning whether many of them should even be in this country. Now, remember, Ilhan Omar is an American citizen. She's been elected to Congress by the people of Minnesota. So, what the hell is happening here? Let's see if we can get some insight from Minnesota State Senator and Assistant Majority Leader Mary Kunesh. Senator, thank you for joining us. I really appreciate you being here to offer us some insight on this. And I want to start by playing something that Donald Trump said about Ilhan Omar. Listen to this.
There is a problem with Ilhan Omar's age. Could she be deported?
Oh, she could be. She could also go to jail. I mean, she could also go to jail. You know, they keep talking about deportation. No, she could go to jail. This is just my opinion. I think she is a sick, a very dishonest person, but who hates our country. And she comes from a country that is essentially not even a country, Somalia. It's a real—okay?
I mean, what do you think? She's your friend. Do you know her, right? What do you think? A sitting congresswoman, and you hear a real—you know, she comes from a country that's a real—
I— It's like every time you hear something come out of his mouth, it is so vile, and it is so gross. And the fact that he continues to degrade not only women and immigrants, but other countries the way that he does. I mean, he has come close. He is so close to destroying this country right here. If he wants to talk about a house, think of all the things that have happened since he became president the last time. Look at how much we're paying for gas, for food, for our health care, stripping people of their health care, destroying education. I mean, we're living that right now in this authoritarian government. And so I always want to say, you know, you need to look in the mirror and see what he's created here and stop disparaging all these other countries that, oftentimes for no reason of their own, especially when you're an immigrant or coming here as a refugee, and trying to get the best that they can out of the United States while giving it back. It just really is not easy.
I feel like you were listening to me earlier. You probably were not, but I said the same thing. I said, 'Well, I wonder how his parents felt about Germany when they left.' Did they think that Germany was, you know, a house or, you know, after the Holocaust and all the other atrocities in Germany? Did they think that? And all he had to do was look at here in the United States with the cost of things and people not having health care. And, you know, as I said, the cost of gas. If he wants to look at a house situation, it's the one that he created here in the United States.
Mhm.
100%. And I, you know, I also serve on the agriculture committee here in Minnesota. And people might not think ag is very great or sexy or any of that kind of stuff, but when you look at the struggle, the annual struggle of farmers and food growers in Minnesota and across the country, and you look at the devastating effects of the tariffs and the lack of employees, people, farm workers—again, destroying what we have here and taking credit for things that don't even exist. It's just such a narcissistic attitude that this man has.
Senator Kunesh, I want to ask you about—because I need you to help me understand this—that Ilhan Omar's citizenship was examined during Trump's first administration, and investigators reportedly found no evidence of wrongdoing. So, what has changed? What's new evidence there? I mean, what is it? What is it?
I kind of—I really don't understand why they continue to regurgitate this. This is a woman who has been here now since the age of 12. She went through school. She went through college. She was elected state representative and then a congresswoman. She's been vetted time and time and time again. And I think that, you know, the president and his cronies just feel that they can pull anything out of anywhere and use that as the fuel to continue to antagonize Ilhan Omar. And so they keep creating these scenarios or these situations that they feel will not only make people question her legality and her ability to do her job, but it also ties her up financially, legally, you know, emotionally. And that's what they want to do. And it's a way for them to distract from all the crap that's happening out there. I mean, if we want to look at probably illegal ways of getting citizenship, I mean, there's a question about Trump's own wife, right? And so this is his way to distract from all the awful things that are happening out there and using Congresswoman Ilhan Omar as a scapegoat.
Well, I'm glad you said it because I've been thinking and other folks have been saying it about—what about Melania?
How did she get here? What kind of B-visa did she have? What was the reason—what was the legitimate reason for her to come over here and stay in the United States? But look, I'm going to—
I don't know. I don't know, and I don't see any investigating going on there.
I thought she was a model. Do you have to be a genius to be a model?
A model. Anyway, yeah. So the administration is insisting that this is legitimate. They say this investigation is legitimate.
Obviously, Omar says she's being politically targeted, and folks know that. Folks understand that. How do you tell the difference between a genuine investigation and a political retaliation in this environment, Senator? I think this one's pretty obvious, but I want to hear your explanation.
Well, I think that, you know, the fact that the Trump officials are doing this and trying to strip her of her citizenship less than 3 weeks before an election that she's on the ballot—this is really extraordinary and certainly an unprecedented abuse of power. From what I understand, it violates long-standing Department of Justice policy. And this is the escalation of a decade-long campaign, a personal campaign that Donald Trump has used to target Rep. Omar with, you know, with this exaggerated rhetoric. And, you know, it also creates that sense of fear. You know, there's been death threats and death threats and violence and those sorts of things. And so the fact that this is coming just 3 weeks before an election certainly, you know, looks to be quite politically charged. And if I'm not mistaken, you know, they did the same thing to Hillary Trump just 11 days before her presidential, you know, before that election when, yeah, they opened up that investigation.
Excuse me, Hillary Clinton. My bad. But Hillary Clinton—and so I think that they are using, you know, much of that same strategy in order to harm the re-election of Rep. Omar. And I just can't even imagine that—well, I know in Minnesota she has a strong following, and I don't feel like that's going to affect the outcome for her.
