Clyburn Joins Pelosi In Defense Of ‘Incredible’ Omar: ‘All Of Us Have Misspoken’

House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) joined House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) in defense of a freshman lawmaker whose comments Democratic leadership condemned earlier this week.

Clyburn called Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) an “incredible young lady” and said he thought her apology was “very sincere,” during an interview with CNN Thursday.

“I have had a very long talk with her. I like her a lot. I think she was very sincere in her apology. I wish we would just go on and stop beating up on people when they make a mistake, all of us have misspoken at one time or another,” he said. 

“All of us have to learn the processes up here. I think she’s an incredible young lady who has a tremendous future in politics,” he continued. “I’m going to be as supportive as I possibly can of her. I wish we would just go on and put this behind us.”

Clyburn defends Omar: "I wish we could just go on and put this behind us" pic.twitter.com/w84TdxjQsj

— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) February 14, 2019

Omar apologized on Monday for a tweet that’s been interpreted as anti-Semitic. In critiquing a pro-Israel lobbying group on Twitter, she suggested that some lawmakers are supportive of Israel because of money, even though the group –American Israel Public Affairs Committee — doesn’t donate directly to members of Congress.

The tweet appeared to perpetuate a harmful trope about Jewish people and Omar was roundly criticized by Republicans and Democrats alike. Republicans have called for Omar to resign or be removed from the House Foreign Affairs Committee, while Democrats — signaled by Pelosi and Clyburn’s comments — appear to have moved on.