Roy Moore: Omar should go back ‘from whence she came’

Roy Moore

In this Dec. 5, 2017, file photo, former Alabama Chief Justice and U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore speaks at a campaign rally, in Fairhope Ala. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)AP

The next shoe has dropped in a brewing war of words between Alabama Republicans and U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minnesota.

The latest development is that U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore, in a statement Wednesday morning, echoed President Donald Trump call for Omar - a U.S. citizen - to return to her native Somalia.

"President Trump was right: she should go back to Somalia from whence she came," Moore said in the statement.

Moore was responding to criticism Monday from Omar, who was responding to criticism from the Alabama Republican Party in its resolution passed over the weekend that she should be expelled from Congress.

In the resolution, the Alabama GOP called for Omar's ouster, in part, because of her views on Israel – a longtime U.S. ally.

In a tweet Tuesday responding to the Alabama GOP resolution, Omar wrote in part, "If you want to clean up politics, maybe don’t nominate an accused child molester as your Senate candidate?"

She was referring to Moore, who was the Republican nominee in the 2017 U.S. Senate special election won by Democrat Doug Jones. The allegations against Moore did not emerge until he had already been elected the nominee.

Moore has repeatedly denied the allegations and is involved in a handful of lawsuits over the allegations.

“Omar, an avowed Muslim, is a sworn enemy of Israel and has accused our own military of war crimes,” Moore said in the statement. "While in Congress, she has been accused of numerous sexual relationships. I have been married to my wife, Kayla, since Omar was three years old and fought for my country over ten years before Omar was even born.

“I fully support the resolution of the Alabama Republican Party asking Congress to expel Ilhan Omar under Article 1, Section 5, of the United States Constitution I was sworn to defend after my graduation from the United States Military Academy at West Point.”

In response to Moore’s statement, the Muslim Advocates responded by saying Moore’s comments are not just critical of Omar but “are attacks on an entire community.” Muslim Advocates describes itself on its website as “a national civil rights organization working in the courts, in the halls of power and in communities to halt bigotry in its tracks.”

“Having a state political party officially adopt such a hateful, dishonest resolution is a troubling escalation of the ongoing effort to vilify American Muslims," Scott Simpson, public advocacy director for Muslim Advocates, said in a statement. "The text of the resolution reads like a laundry list of the most common anti-Muslim stereotypes: that Rep. Omar is un-American and anti-Semitic, that she disrespects the troops, that she is an ungrateful immigrant and that she sympathizes with terrorists. These meritless slurs are constantly hurled at American Muslims in public life in order to silence and discredit them.

“These are not just attacks on Rep. Omar, these are attacks on an entire community. Dishonest smears like these are used against almost every American Muslim who exercises their right to serve their country. They are designed to intimidate them out of public service and tarnish their credibility. They will not work. When American Muslims in public life are attacked because of their faith, Muslim Advocates and countless Americans of conscience will stand up for what’s right.”

Updated today, Aug. 28, 2019, at 1:21 p.m. with statement from Muslim Advocates.

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