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Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) accused White House official Sebastian Gorka on Sunday of trying “to deflect from the reality” of the Minneapolis Catholic school shooting by highlighting gunman Robin Westman’s transgender identity.
Gorka, who serves as President Trump’s deputy assistant and senior director for counterterrorism, argued on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Westman had a clear “ideological” motive for targeting the Annunciation Catholic School earlier this week. Two students were killed and more than a dozen others were injured during Mass.
“That’s what terrorism is,” Gorka said, pointing out that Westman’s manifesto contained antisemitic and anti-Israel rhetoric and that “kill Donald Trump” was written on one of the gun magazines.
Westman’s writings also referenced his transgender identity. Gorka said the massacre, carried out by Westman, who wrote he was “‘tired of being trans,” was part of a broader trend of mass shootings committed by people struggling with gender identity.
“In just a couple of years, we have seen seven mass shootings involving people of transgender nature or who are confused in their gender identity,” Gorka claimed. “That is inordinately high.” He added, “It’s not about the sexual proclivities of the individual. It’s the fact that nobody seems to notice a very disturbing pattern towards violence.”
Recent shootings involving transgender or nonbinary attackers include the 2023 Nashville Covenant School shooting that killed six, the 2022 Colorado Springs gay bar attack that left five dead, and earlier incidents in Denver (2019) and Aberdeen, Maryland (2018).
Omar, who appeared on CNN after Gorka, criticized him for raising Westman’s gender identity. “It’s really unfortunate that we have people, you know, like him, speaking on this,” she told host Brianna Keilar.
“He talked about their transgenderness, and then he says that shouldn’t really matter,” Omar continued. “These people are all over the place because they want to deflect from the reality, which is that, there was, someone who came into that school, through the window, and assassinated two beautiful angels, as they prayed.”
“This is not the moment to point fingers,” Omar said, instead urging a ban on assault weapons and increased resources for mental health care.
When asked whether Westman’s transgender identity should be investigated as a potential motive, Omar responded that it should be considered along with other factors.
“I’ve always said it’s really important for us to look at every factor, so that we can understand what happened, what signs were missed and have the ability in the future to prevent these kinds of senseless deaths,” she said.
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