North Dakota lawmaker posts bogus photo of Omar on Facebook
Updated: 6:40 p.m.
A Republican state senator from North Dakota took to Facebook to post a long-debunked photo that claims to be Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar holding a weapon at an al-Qaida training camp.
The photo on the home page of Rep. Oley Larsen, of Minot, has been debunked by several sources since it appeared on social media this summer. It's an Associated Press photo taken at a Mogadishu military training campus in 1978, before Omar was born.
Larsen also called Omar an "elected terrorist" in the comments section of his post.
Larsen and North Dakota Republican Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner did not immediately respond Monday to phone and email messages left by The Associated Press.
“This is pure propaganda designed to stir up hate and violence coming from a GOP state rep,” Rep. Omar said in a statement Monday evening. “Facebook's unwillingness to crack down on hate speech and misinformation is not just threatening my life, but our democracy.”
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