Former NYPD commissioner: Ilhan Omar is ‘infatuated with Al Qaeda’

Former New York Police Department (NYPD) Commissioner Bernard Kerik called Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) “infatuated with al Qaeda” on Fox News Monday night.
Kerik told Fox’s Sean Hannity that Omar, one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, was addressing “a terrorist organization” when she spoke before the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in March.
“She is infatuated with al Qaeda, with Hamas, Hezbollah,” Kerik said. “I personally think she should be removed from Congress. She should be voted out for sure, but she shouldn’t be on the Foreign Relations Committee.” (Omar sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.)
Kerik also accused Omar of asking a federal judge for “leniency for a convicted terrorist,” an apparent reference to a 2016 case when Omar, who had just won a state legislative seat, wrote to a district court judge that “a restorative approach to justice” would be a more effective deterrent to radicalization than “a long prison sentence” in the case of a Minnesota man convicted of attempting to join the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
Kerik served as NYPD commissioner during the 9/11 terror attacks and was nominated as director of Homeland Security by then-President George W. Bush in 2004 at the recommendation of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R).
But Kerik withdrew his nomination over revelations he had employed an undocumented immigrant. In 2009, he pleaded guilty to eight federal charges, including making false statements to the federal government and tax charges, and was sentenced to four years in federal prison, serving three.
In a March speech to CAIR resurfaced by conservatives last week, Omar said some people responded to the 9/11 attacks by being suspicious of all Muslims because “some people did something.”
Several conservatives have accused her of minimizing the attacks with her phrasing, including President Trump, who tweeted a video of the terror attacks intercut with Omar’s speech. Omar has said death threats to her spiked after the tweet, and on Sunday House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) confirmed she had taken extra security measures to ensure Omar’s safety.
Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.