Photo: Brandon Bell / Getty Images News / Getty Images
President Donald Trump is facing criticism after falsely claiming that Rep. Ilhan Omar staged an attack against herself following an incident in which a man rushed the Minnesota congresswoman and sprayed her with an unknown substance during a town hall event.
In a phone interview with ABC News, Trump dismissed the attack and accused Omar of fabricating the incident, despite no evidence supporting the claim.
“I don’t think about her. I think she’s a fraud,” Trump said. “She probably had herself sprayed, knowing her.”
Omar, who has long been a target of Trump’s rhetoric, was attacked late on Tuesday (January 27) while speaking at a town hall in Minneapolis. Video and eyewitness accounts show a man rushing toward her and spraying a liquid onto her torso as she called for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to be abolished and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to be impeached.
Trump said he had not watched footage of the incident.
“I haven’t seen it,” he said. “No, no. I hope I don’t have to bother.”
Minneapolis police identified the suspect as Anthony Kazmierczak, 55, who was arrested and booked into the Hennepin County Jail on assault charges, according to a spokesperson for the Minneapolis Police Department. Authorities have not suggested the attack was staged, and no evidence has been presented to support Trump’s claim.
Omar was not seriously injured and chose to continue the town hall after the attack, urging those present not to let the disruption derail the event.
“Please don’t let them have the show,” she said as attendees urged her to stop. “We will continue … They are not going to get away with this.”
Following the incident, Omar addressed the attack publicly on X.
“I’m ok,” she wrote. “I’m a survivor so this small agitator isn’t going to intimidate me from doing my work. I don’t let bullies win. Grateful to my incredible constituents who rallied behind me. Minnesota strong.”
Trump’s remarks fit a long pattern of personal attacks against Omar, which have intensified in recent weeks amid heightened tensions in Minnesota following the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens during federal immigration operations.
Just hours before the town hall attack, Trump criticized Omar during a speech in Clive, Iowa, questioning immigrants’ loyalty and singling her out by name. In recent years, Trump has mocked Omar’s appearance, disparaged her birthplace of Somalia, and repeatedly suggested she does not belong in the United States.
In a January 18 post on Truth Social, Trump wrote that Omar should “be in jail, or even a worse punishment, sent back to Somalia,” despite her being a U.S. citizen since 2000.
Trump has also announced a Justice Department investigation into Omar’s finances, questioning how she accumulated her wealth. According to congressional financial disclosures, Omar reported a sharp increase in income in 2025 tied to her spouse’s business interests, including a California winery and a venture capital firm.
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