WH denies Trump inciting violence against Muslim lawmaker

WASHINGTON- Agence France-Presse

The top Democrat in the U.S. Congress ordered a safety review for a Muslim lawmaker and her family on April 14 after accusing President Donald Trump of putting her in danger by tweeting a video of her spliced with footage of the 9/11 attacks.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi took time out from an official trip to issue a strong statement urging Trump to remove the clip featuring Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar.

"Following the president's tweet, I spoke with the sergeant-at-arms to ensure that Capitol Police are conducting a security assessment to safeguard Congresswoman Omar, her family and her staff," she said.

"The president's words weigh a ton, and his hateful and inflammatory rhetoric creates real danger. President Trump must take down his disrespectful and dangerous video."      

Trump's spokeswoman Sarah Sanders, meanwhile, defended the president on April 14 against accusations that he was inciting violence toward Omar.

Omar has been at the center of an escalating row after a clip emerged of her characterizing the deadliest attack on U.S. soil as "some people did something."          

Last week, Trump tweeted a video that juxtaposed the snippet- which Omar's fellow Democrats say was taken out of context- with images of the hijacked planes used in the attacks crashing into the World Trade Center's twin towers that once dominated New York's skyline. Menacing music accompanies Omar's words.