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Reps Omar and Zeldin are beefing on Twitter… again

New York Republican, Minnesota Democrat have longstanding Twitter beef over terrorism, Middle East politics

Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., speaks during the press conference calling on President Trump to declassify the Carter Page FISA applications on Thursday, Sept. 6, 2018. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., speaks during the press conference calling on President Trump to declassify the Carter Page FISA applications on Thursday, Sept. 6, 2018. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)

Reps. Lee Zeldin and Ilhan Omar renewed their Twitter beef this week — this time, over a Coast Guard lieutenant caught using work computers to plan a sprawling domestic terrorist attack against Democratic lawmakers.

Zeldin, a New York Republican who is Jewish, and Omar, a Minnesota Democrat who is Muslim, accused each other over Twitter in January of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.

That apparently unresolved beef — which they pledged to squash over Somali tea in Omar’s Washington, D.C., office — heated up again Thursday.

It started when Omar retweeted a columnist for The Intercept who called Zeldin out for not condemning Christopher Hasson, the coast guard officer accused of plotting a terrorist attack.

“Given this far-right domestic terrorist was allegedly targeting @IlhanMN among others, hey GOP congressman @leezeldin do you wanna condemn him, given you’re always so keen on folks condemning hate when it’s associated with you? This sounds pretty serious, no?” the columnist, Mehdi Hasan, tweeted.

But Zeldin had condemned Hasson — in a tweet less than 15 minutes earlier.

In that tweet, Zeldin called Hasson a “psycho” who “deserves to spend the remainder of his wasted life in prison,” and commended law enforcement for apprehending the Coast Guard lieutenant.

Zeldin apparently took offense to Omar’s retweet calling him out. He issued a tweet of his own

“[Omar’s] only tweet on that white supremacist domestic terrorist is a RT dishonestly stating the neo-Nazi was associated w me (100% untrue) & saying I should condemn him even after I had already done so,” Zeldin tweeted, although the tweet Omar retweeted never alleged the would-be terrorist had any connection to Zeldin.

Zeldin’s office could not immediately be reached to clarify his tweet.

“The darkness/evil filling this Congresswoman’s heart/mind is incredible,” Zeldin wrote, referring to Omar.

Omar’s office could not immediately be reached for a comment responding to Zeldin’s tweet.

Omar has taken heat for making statements that critics say are anti-Israel.

She apologized in January for a 2012 tweet in which she wrote “Israel has hypnotized the world.” 

Zeldin was caught up in a controversy of his own when people believed he suggested in 2016 that President Barack Obama was racist.

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