Trump repeats racist attack on Ilhan Omar as crowd calls for Biden to be ‘locked up’
Donald Trump repeated his racist attack on Ilhan Omar, falsely accusing the congresswoman on Friday of “marrying her brother or something, and coming in illegally”.
Ms Omar came to the US as an asylum seeker from Somalia and became a US citizen in 2000 at the age of 17.
The racist conspiracy theory stems from right-wing blogs claiming that her ex-husband Ahmed Nur Said Elmi is actually her brother, and that she married him so he could move to the US.
Trump claims Congresswoman ‘married her brother’ and ‘hates our country’
The Minnesota congresswoman’s office has described previous accusations about the matter “disgusting lies.”
The president is set for another day on the campaign trail on Saturday, with rallies in Michigan and Wisconsin planned.
Labour has warned Boris Johnson he has 72 hours to agree to England footballer Marcus Rashford’s call to extend free school meals over the holidays or it will try to force a vote by MPs on the issue.
“Government U-turns on free summer meals for pupils after Rashford campaign”
Shadow education secretary Kate Green said now was “the time to act”.
More than one million children could go hungry over school breaks because of the coronavirus crisis, she warned.
Mr Johnson bowed to public pressure, including from some Tory MPs, over a previous campaign by Mr Rashford which secured free school meals for thousands this summer.
But No 10 is resisting pressure to change its policy this time around.
A petition launched by the Manchester United striker secured 100,000 signatures in just 10 hours.
The Welsh Government has pledged to provide free school meals during the holidays until Easter.
But a Number 10 spokesman said: “It’s not for schools to regularly provide food to pupils during the school holidays.”
Ms Green said: “Millions of families face the prospect of losing their livelihoods because the Government has lost control of the virus.
“Now is the time to act. Labour will not stand by and let families be the victims of the Government’s incompetence.
“If Boris Johnson doesn’t change course, we will force a vote … and give his backbenchers the chance to do the right thing.”
Rashford was recently made an MBE for his services to vulnerable children.
His petition calls for free school meals to be expanded to any household on Universal Credit, as well as provided during holidays.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “Schools are working incredibly hard to help children catch-up with lost learning amidst ongoing disruption caused by rising Covid infection rates, and the pupils who need the greatest degree of support are often those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
“To then have a situation where they are potentially going hungry through holiday periods is very obviously detrimental to both their welfare and educational progress.”