FACT CHECK: Did Ilhan Omar Tweet ‘They Reap What They Sow’ During The Notre Dame Fire?
An image shared on Facebook claimed that Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar tweeted “they reap what they sow” in response to the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
It also showed a tweet of Fox News purportedly sharing the story. “This was taken down,” the image claimed. “Retweet the hell out of it before they take it down again.”
Verdict: False
There is no evidence Omar said this about the fire at Notre Dame. The Twitter account that shared the claim is not actually associated with Fox News.
Fact Check:
Criticism of Omar has persisted since her election in November, and in light of the April 15 fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, some have tried to cast her as unsympathetic to the tragedy because of her religion. Omar is one of the first Muslim women elected to Congress.
There is no evidence, however, that Omar ever tweeted “they reap what they sow.” Were the tweet deleted, there would have likely been screenshots of the tweet with a different time stamp or number of interactions.
There is also no evidence of such a Fox News article or headline anywhere online.
The Twitter account sharing the information, @USFoxNews, has been suspended from Twitter. It was not a legitimate account of Fox News, as confirmed to The Daily Caller by a spokesperson with the network. Within the aforementioned tweet, the account misspelled the name of the cathedral, referring to it as “Norte Dame,” and failed to capitalize the word “Twitter.”
Omar did make a public statement about the fire at Notre Dame on her Twitter, saying, “Art and architecture have a unique ability to help us connect across our differences and bring people together in important ways. Thinking of the people of Paris and praying for every first responder trying to save this wonder.”
Art and architecture have a unique ability to help us connect across our differences and bring people together in important ways. Thinking of the people of Paris and praying for every first responder trying to save this wonder.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) April 15, 2019
Investigators believe the fire was an accident and not an act of terror.
