Federal prosecutors say Anthony Kazmierczak assaulted and intimidated Rep. Ilhan Omar when he rushed the stage at a Minneapolis town hall and sprayed her with a syringe containing water and apple cider vinegar. Omar later said threats against her rise when President Donald Trump uses hostile rhetoric about her; Trump suggested without evidence that the incident may have been staged.
Federal prosecutors have charged a Minnesota man with assaulting and intimidating U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar after authorities say he rushed toward the lawmaker during a town hall meeting in Minneapolis and sprayed her with a liquid from a syringe.
According to a federal criminal complaint, the man, Anthony Kazmierczak, is accused of “forcibly assaulting, opposing, impeding and intimidating” Omar during the Tuesday evening event. Investigators said authorities later determined the substance was a mixture of water and apple cider vinegar.
An affidavit describing the incident says Omar was speaking at a podium when Kazmierczak moved toward her and sprayed the liquid. Video of the episode shows the man yelling and gesturing as a security guard grabbed him and wrestled him to the ground, prompting shocked reactions from audience members.
The complaint also describes what officials said Kazmierczak appeared to say as he approached Omar: “She’s not resigning. You’re splitting Minnesotans apart.” Court papers further allege that several years earlier, Kazmierczak told an associate that somebody should “kill” Omar.
Omar was not reported to have been seriously injured and continued with the event, according to news reports. In a news conference the next day, she said threats against her increase when Trump targets her with hostile language, saying that “every time the president of the United States has chosen to use hateful rhetoric to talk about me and the community that I represent, my death threats skyrocket.”
Trump, who spoke with ABC News after the incident, suggested without evidence that it may have been staged. “She probably had herself sprayed, knowing her,” he said, adding that he had not watched video of the attack.
Kazmierczak has also faced state charges in connection with the incident, according to reporting on the case.
Claims circulating in some commentary about Omar and Minnesota’s Somali community—including assertions of “billions” in fraud tied broadly to the community, and renewed allegations that Omar committed immigration fraud by marrying her brother—were not supported by the court documents describing the attack and were not substantiated with specific evidence in the reporting reviewed. Omar has previously denied the marriage allegation, and no new court filing connected to the attack was cited as backing those claims.
