Rep. Ilhan Omar Under Fire For Tweet About GOP Senator

WASHINGTON, D.C. — One of Minnesota's new representatives in Congress is under fire after suggesting that a Republican senator is being blackmailed by the Trump administration.

Rep. Ilhan Omar, who represents Minneapolis and some of its suburbs, tweeted Wednesday that Sen. Lindsey Graham was "compromised."

Omar was asked to provide evidence for the tweet in an interview with CNN's Jim Sciutto and Poppy Harlow.

"I wonder if you would explain what you were talking about there," said Sciutto. "This sparked a fair amount of criticism not just from Republicans. Can you explain that comment?"

"I am pretty sure that there is something happening with him," Omar said. "Whether it is something that has to do with his funding when it comes to running for office. Whether it has something to do with the polling that they might have in his district, or whether it has to do with some sort of leadership within the Senate."

"He is somehow compromised to no longer stand up for the truth," she added.

"But that is quite a charge to make," Sciutto responded. "You say you are pretty sure. Based on what evidence? That is a remarkable comment to make about a sitting U.S. Senator."

"The evidence really is present to us," Omar replied. "It’s being presented to us, in the way that he’s behaving."

"But that’s not evidence," said Harlow. "That’s your opinion."

Watch the entire clip below:

On Thursday, Omar responded on Twitter to allegations from Breitbart, which claimed she was promoting a "homophobic conspiracy" against Graham.

Photo: U.S. Rep Ilhan Omar (D-MN) speaks to media outside the US Captiol on January 15, 2019 in Washington, DC. Members of the Freshman Class held a press conference on the government shutdown. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)