President Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) staged an incident at her town hall on Tuesday night, during which a man was arrested for spraying the lawmaker with an unknown substance.
“I don’t think about her. I think she’s a fraud,” Trump told ABC News. “She probably had herself sprayed, knowing her.”
When asked whether he had seen video of the incident, Trump said he had not. “I haven’t seen it. No, no. I hope I don’t have to bother,” he said.
The remarks came hours after a man was arrested during Omar’s town hall in Minneapolis, where she was criticizing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and calling for her resignation or impeachment following two fatal shootings involving immigration enforcement officers in the city.
A livestream of the event shows a man standing, shouting and then spraying an unknown liquid toward Omar before being tackled by security and taken into custody.
Minnesota police identified the suspect as 55-year-old Anthony Kazmierczak, saying officers observed him using a syringe to spray the substance.
Omar continued the town hall after the disruption and struck a defiant tone afterward.
“I’ve survived war and I’m definitely going to survive intimidation or whatever these people think they can throw at me, because I’m built that way,” she said. On X, she added: “I’m ok. I’m a survivor so this small agitator isn’t going to intimidate me from doing my work. I don’t let bullies win.”
Trump has frequently attacked Omar, the lone Somali American in Congress, and hours before the incident criticized her again during remarks in Iowa.
U.S. Capitol Police called the incident “unacceptable” and said it would be met with “swift justice,” adding that the agency is working with federal partners to pursue serious charges to deter political violence.
Several Republicans also denounced the attack, including Reps. Mark Alford (Mo.), Mike Lawler (N.Y.) and Nancy Mace (S.C.).
“What happened at Rep. Ilhan Omar’s town hall … is completely unacceptable,” Lawler wrote on X. “Regardless of political views, we should all agree this behavior crosses a line.”
The incident comes as threats and concerning behavior directed at lawmakers continue to rise. U.S. Capitol Police said it investigated nearly 15,000 such cases in 2025, up sharply from nearly 9,500 in 2024.
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3 Responses
Your choices are political intimidation, overt racism, or Jussie Smollett 2.0.
Your pick of the three may or may not indicate a lot about your political leaning.
It was reasonable in principle to suspect a hoax, because at least 90% of the time it is a hoax. In this case the incident clearly did happen, because it was on video, and the guy was caught, so there’s no doubt about who he is. If the evidence shows that he’s indeed a Trump supporter, then fine, that’s what he is.
In Frost’s case, initially I didn’t believe him that the incident happened at all. Now that I learn someone’s been arrested, I agree that it happened. But until I know more about the assailant I will not make any assumptions about his politics. It’s inherently unlikely that a Trump supporter would be found at Sundance.
But for instance when John Lewis claimed that demonstrators against 0bamacare spat at him and called him an N-word, he was outright lying, just like Jussie Smollett. He had someone with him filming, expecting that something would happen, but nothing did, so he just went with the lies he’d already prepared, and the news stories about which had already been written. The late and great Andrew Breitbart offered a $10,000 reward for anyone who could produce video evidence supporting Lewis’s claims, and no one emerged. And that’s the case with at least 90% of these allegations.
I tend to agree with President Trump.I heard the spray was apple vinegar.And the video (her lack of reaction and calmness after the incident) and
circumstances (he was in the first row and the spray bottle was clearly seen) are quite suspicious. This may elicit sympathy and take away from some of the inquiry into her financial bonanza.I think President Trump is a good judge of character or lack of it in this case.