After week of controversy, Rep. Ilhan Omar says her criticism of President Obama was 'distorted'

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Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Mark Wilson/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, who has been at the center of controversy all week on Capitol Hill, said Friday that a perceived criticism she gave of former President Barack Obama was the result of a reporter distorting her words.

In an interview Omar gave to POLITICO Magazine, the freshman Democrat said while it is right to criticize President Donald Trump and the policies of his administration, she also feels that there are “ways that our Democratic leaders have conducted themselves within the system is not one that we are all proud of.”

“You know I will talk about the family separation or caging of kids and people will point out that this was Trump — I mean this was Obama. I mean I’ll say something about the droning of countries around the world and people will say that was Obama. And all of that is very true,” Omar, who posted audio of the specific portion of the interview on Twitter, said.

“We can’t be only upset with Trump because he’s not a politician who sells us his policies in the most perfect way. His policies are bad, but many of the people who came before him also had really bad policies. They just were more polished than he was, and that’s not what we should be looking for anymore,” Omar added. “We don’t want anybody to get away with murder because they are polished, we want to recognize the actual policies that are behind the pretty face and the smile so that we can understand the kind of negative impact, or positive impact they will have on us for generations to come.”

After many took Omar’s comments as a harsh critique of Obama, who remains widely popular across the Democratic Party, she took to Twitter to clarify the comments, writing, “I’m an Obama fan! I was saying how Trump is different from Obama, and why we should focus on policy not politics.”

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