The confrontation unfolded in seconds, but the political fallout quickly grew far larger than the brief disruption that shook a Minnesota town hall.
According to the New York Post, Rep. Ilhan Omar said Wednesday that the man accused of attacking her with a syringe was driven by anger over immigration enforcement and fixated on her role as a Somali American lawmaker, a fixation she directly tied to President Donald Trump’s rhetoric.
Speaking to reporters at a news conference at Minneapolis’ Karmel Mall, the Democratic congresswoman described what she said motivated the assault during a public event the night before.
“The man that attacked me was specifically upset that Trump’s order to deport Somalis was not yielding enough deportations of Somalis,” Omar told reporters.
“He wanted to come get the person he thought was protecting the Somalis,” she said of the suspect, 55-year-old Anthony Kazmierczak.
Kazmierczak rushed the stage during Omar’s town hall in North Minneapolis on Tuesday and used a syringe to spray her with a foul-smelling liquid, according to witnesses and video footage from the scene.
Authorities later determined the liquid inside the syringe was apple cider vinegar.
Kazmierczak was taken into custody and is being held on third-degree assault charges. A neighbor described him as being “heavily medicated” and a Trump supporter, according to reports.
Omar was not injured in the incident and returned to the microphone moments after the disruption, continuing her remarks as the event resumed.
“Blame is very interesting, but facts are more important,” she said.
Omar argued that those facts show a clear pattern tied to Trump’s time in office.
“The facts” demonstrate, she said, that since she has been an elected official, “every time the president of the United States has chosen to use hateful rhetoric to talk about me and the community that I represent, my death threats skyrocket.”
According to Omar, threats against her dropped significantly during the four years Trump was out of office, only to rise again to what she described as the highest level of any member of Congress since Trump “reassumed his vitriol.”
“I wouldn’t be where I am at today — having to pay for security, having the government to think about providing me security — if Donald Trump wasn’t in office and if he wasn’t so obsessed with me,” Omar said.
She also pointed to the timing of Trump’s remarks at a rally in Iowa on Tuesday night.
“It is ironic that just last night, [Trump] was on stage, moments before I was attacked, talking about me,” she said.
She accused the president of dismissing the incident afterward.
“Then when asked about my attack, he said, ‘I don’t think about her.’ Does he not remember? Is he suffering from dementia?”
At the Iowa rally, Trump criticized Omar’s background, telling the crowd that she “comes from a country that’s a disaster.”
“It’s considered, I think, the worst [country]. It’s not even a country,” he said.
Trump later told ABC News that Omar “probably had herself sprayed, knowing her.”
