'I was not happy with it': Trump denounces attendees at his rally chanting 'send her back' about Rep. Ilhan Omar

Grace Panetta

July 18, 2019 6:49 PM

President Donald Trump is distancing himself from attendees at his North Carolina rally chanting "send her back" in reference to Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota on Wednesday.

President Donald Trump at a rally in North Carolina on Wednesday.

In the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump said he "disagreed" with the chants, was "very unhappy" with them, and would try to stop them in the future.
If Trump was unhappy with the chants, he didn't show it. Trump stood and looked around for several seconds as the chants went on, and did not interject or not tell the audience to stop.
After the chants, prominent Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike came to Omar's defense and slammed the chants as xenophobic and anti-American.
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

President Donald Trump is distancing himself from attendees at his North Carolina rally on Wednesday who chanted about "send her back" Rep. Ilhan Omar, a US citizen who has been a strident Trump critic.

In the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump said he "disagreed" with the chants, was "very unhappy" with them, and would try to stop them in the future.

Omar came to America as a refugee from Somalia in the 1990s, and is a US citizen.

At the rally, Trump went on an extended monologue criticizing Omar and falsely linking her to terrorism and accusing her of supporting al-Qaeda, drawing loud boos from the audience.

The crowd broke into "send her back" chants after Trump accused her of "launching vicious, anti-Semitic screeds." But if Trump was unhappy with the chants, he didn't show it.

As seen in the below video, Trump stood and looked around for several seconds as the chants went on, and did interject or not tell the audience to stop.

On Thursday at the Oval Office, Trump claimed he tried to stop the chants, saying, "I think I did I started speaking very quickly."

The events at the Trump rally came after Trump a series of racist tweets on Sunday morning telling Omar and other progressive congresswomen of color to "go back to the broken and crime infested places from which they came," sparking bi-partisan condemnation.

After the chants, both prominent Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike came to Omar's defense and slammed the chants as xenophobic and anti-American.

In response, Omar posted Maya Angelou's poem "Still I Rise" to Twitter and tweeted, "I'm exactly where I belong, in the people's house."

On Thursday, Omar told reporters she believed Trump is a "fascist" and slammed his "racist remarks."

NOW WATCH: 'Shark Tank' star Robert Herjavec explains what makes America great