Rep. Ilhan Omar deletes tweet attacking Covington students, after backlash

Freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., has apparently deleted an overnight tweet going after Covington Catholic students anew, after facing a social media backlash for her comments.

Her tweet had been posted well after the initial round of misreporting on the students' widely viewed confrontation with a Native-American elder in Washington last week. Media figures initially seized on the viral confrontation with Nathan Phillips, with an initial clip appearing to show the students antagonizing him. But additional video then emerged offering context, including that Phillips approached them amid a confrontation between the students and Black Hebrew Israelite protesters. The students pushed back on the initial criticism, and many of those critics have since retracted their statements.

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But Omar on Tuesday night responded to President Trump’s tweet defending Covington student Nick Sandmann and his peers -- by claiming they were taunting the black protesters despite accounts to the contrary and citing a videotaped comment about rape, though it's unclear whether it was one of the Covington students who said it.

She wrote: "The boys were protesting a woman's right to choose & yelled 'it's not rape if you enjoy it' ... They were taunting 5 Black men before they surrounded Phillips and led racist chants ... Sandmann's family hired a right wing PR firm to write his non-apology."

But after an avalanche of criticism, the tweet had been removed by late morning on Wednesday.

Omar faced accusations of lying and distorting the facts in response to her original tweet.

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The newly elected representative was also criticized for a tweet claiming that Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., was “compromised,” admitting later to CNN that it was an “opinion.”