Ilhan Omar tells Trump ‘I can read’ in Constitution debate spat

Rep. Ilhan Omar, Democrat of Minnesota, responded to president Donald Trump after he criticized her understanding of the Constitution.

While the two have been going head-to-head for years dating back to Trump’s first term, they reignited their longstanding feud in recent weeks as Trump suggested she return to Somalia, where she was born. Omar’s comment comes a day after the White House shared a photo on X of Trump waving goodbye through a McDonald’s window in 2024, in response to a video of Omar saying she was not upset about being deported.

On Tuesday, Omar took a jab at Trump in response to a video in which he questioned her constitutional knowledge.

“Unlike you, I can read and that’s why I know what the Constitution says,” Omar said in a post on X.

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Although he did not mention Omar by name, Trump attacked Omar when he criticized other Democrats such as Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas in a Monday interview with Fox News.

“Look at someone coming from Somalia where they don’t have anything, they don’t have police, they don’t have an army, they don’t have anything. All they have is crime,” Trump said in the clip. “And you come and tell us how to run our country. ‘The Constitution says this, the Constitution says that.’ It’s all crazy.”

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Rep. Ilhan Omar speaks during an introductory meeting with the House Budget Committee on Capitol Hill on May 16, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

“I have no concerns, I don’t know how they are going to revoke my citizenship and deport me,” Omar said in the White House response clip, which was originally filmed on “The Dean Obeidallah Show” in October. “But I don’t even know what this terrifying threat is about. It’s like I’m not the 8-year-old who ran away from war anymore. I’ve grown, and my children have grown. It’s like I can live wherever I want.”

Trump has repeatedly indicated that Omar should return to Somalia, but he told reporters in September that Somalia did not want her back.

“Did you know that I met the president of Somalia, did you know that?” Trump said. “I suggested to him that he might want it back. He said, ‘I don’t want it.'”

President Donald Trump has repeatedly suggested that Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar should return to Somalia, but he told reporters in September that Somalia did not want her back. (Aaron Schwartz/CNB/Bloomberg/Getty Images)

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But Omar said the story was not true.

“From denying that Somalia has a president to making up a story, President Trump is a lying clown,” Omar said. “No one should take this embarrassing idiot seriously.”

Omar’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

When asked to comment on Omar’s statement, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital: “President Trump is right.”

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Omar’s family fled Somalia to a refugee camp in Kenya during the 1991 Somali Civil War. The United States granted her family asylum, and they lived in Arlington, Virginia, beginning in 1995. The congresswoman obtained US citizenship in 2000.

She was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2016, and then in 2018 she was elected to the US House of Representatives. She is the first Somali-American woman and one of the first Muslim women to serve in congress.