Rep. Ilhan Omar discusses Christian references connected to Iran war

[0:00] Joining us now is Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. Congresswoman, good to see you. You [0:04] know, the president and now his defense secretary are using the Bible as justification for this war. [0:11] This morning, Hegseth even comparing Trump to Jesus. Your reaction to how this administration [0:16] is clearly not separating faith from policy? Yeah, I mean, it's really unfortunate that, [0:24] one, they don't really have a good concept of understanding the Bible. It is my understanding [0:31] that the secretary of defense today used a fake Bible quote in his speech. And it's unfortunate [0:40] that they, you know, are utilizing the faith of so many people and making a mockery of it. [0:48] Well, the House is now voting today on yet another war powers resolution. It already failed the Senate. [0:54] What's the point of even doing this in the first place then, considering that? And would it even [1:00] stop the president? I do believe it is important for members of Congress to assert their constitutional [1:09] right in being the body that declares war, to be able to have people on the record. We have so many [1:20] service members individually that are our constituents. And I think it is our duty to have this debate, [1:28] to have this conversation for them to know how we feel about sending them into danger. Do you think [1:36] Congress is failing in its oversight duty here? Oh, it has been failing. We have people that have [1:42] been too cowardly to stand up for the Constitution, to stand up to this president and to stand up for [1:51] their constituents. We are a separate entity. We do not have a president that rules over Congress. And [2:01] the fact that the legislative branch is deciding that they're only going to do what the president wants [2:07] them to do and not act as an independent branch is an unfortunate thing that is happening. And I think [2:15] it does give the American people the impression that their representatives, their members of Congress, [2:23] are not doing what they're duly elected to do. Well, clearly, there's a lot of news happening this [2:28] week. Your Democratic colleague Eric Swalwell has resigned amid sexual assault allegations, [2:32] which he has denied. There have been rumors among your colleagues for years about his behavior. Did [2:39] you ever hear any of these rumors? No, unfortunately, I just don't happen to be one of those people that gets [2:45] to hang out in those kind of circles. And I'm a mom. So oftentimes, when we're done voting, I head home to [2:54] look and take care of my kids. Well, he's one of two lawmakers, as you know, to resign just this week over [3:02] sexual misconduct. So how big is Congress's sexual harassment problem? I mean, it's something that [3:09] has been talked about quite often. Even before I got here, it was a big issue. I do hope that there [3:18] is more accountability, more transparency. And a lot of these predators are held accountable. [3:26] Well, recently, you've been saying that Democrats should embrace former Trump-supporting [3:29] Republicans like Marjorie Taylor Greene. This is the same woman who falsely called you a terrorist. [3:35] And now you want her to be embraced by your party. Tell me why. [3:39] I do believe when people are interested in changing their ideas in regards to how we safeguard [3:49] everything that is good in our country and create a better tomorrow for Americans, that they should be [3:56] part of the conversation, that we should give them credit for seeing the light. And any time there [4:04] is a Republican that is willing to get off the sycophant train, I think Democrats should welcome [4:11] them and encourage them to continue to do the right thing on behalf of Americans. [4:16] So can you give us an update on what's going on on the ground now in Minneapolis when it comes to ICE [4:23] and immigration enforcement activity? And are you hearing anything about where things stand with [4:27] the investigations into the deadly shootings of Alex Preddy and Renee Goode? [4:31] We are not hearing any updates on the investigations from the federal government. We do know that the [4:41] Hennepin County attorney is carrying out her own investigation. We also know Keith Allison, who is our [4:49] attorney general in Minnesota, has an investigation that he is also carrying out in partnership with her. [4:58] So we are hopeful that those things will lead to accountability and justice. We know that Operation Metro [5:06] surge has dwindled down. We had about 4000 ICE and CPP agents. We now have less than 500. And it is our [5:17] understanding that that number will go down to what it normally was, which is about 150 to 200. The trauma is [5:27] still there. A lot of our community is still recovering from what that occupation has produced, whether it is the [5:36] economic challenges for a lot of our small businesses, whether it is for our schools, where a lot of [5:43] children missed educational opportunities are now just getting back into the classroom, whether it is [5:49] families that have, you know, experienced the brutality of ICE agents. So we have a long way to recover from [5:59] what that operation did to our communities. But we have started the process of recovery. [6:08] Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, appreciate your time today. [6:11] Thank you so much.