After President Donald Trump shared a social media video presenting an edited quote from a freshman Democratic legislator, Fox News anchor Chris Wallace discussed the ensuing controversy with White House press secretary Sarah Sanders.
Wallace opened the segment by airing just a few seconds of the incendiary video. He cut it off before video and images from the 9/11 terror attacks appeared.
“Now, that was the only five seconds we felt comfortable showing,” he said to Sanders. “It goes on in a much worse way of her seeming, no question about it, to minimize 9/11 and then horrible images from 9/11.”
He pressed the White House mouthpiece for specifics regarding Trump’s thought process behind posting it.
“Why is the president comfortable putting out horrible images like that?” he asked. “Does he worry at all about inciting violence against Muslims in general or [Rep.] Ilhan Omar [of Minnesota] in specific?”
Sanders claimed that “nothing could be further from the truth,” asserting that Trump “is not trying to incite violence against anybody.”
But Omar said she has “experienced an increase in direct threats” on her life in the days since Trump posted the video, which she said was referenced in many of those communications.
New Rep. Ilhan Omar statement: "Since the President’s tweet Friday evening, I have experienced an increase in direct threats on my life—many directly referencing or replying to the President’s video.” pic.twitter.com/j9ajDLefYz
— Amanda Terkel (@aterkel) April 15, 2019
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