Laura Loomer – a political firebrand who’s running for Congress as a Republican in Florida’s 21st congressional district next year – has just sued Rep. Rashida Tlaib for $2 million for allegedly assaulting her at a campaign event last year.
In a video available online, Tlaib is seen grabbing Loomer’s phone as she tries asking her if she considers Hamas to be a terrorist organization.
“If you watch the video, she not only grabbed my cell phone, but she actually grabbed my hand,” Loomer told The Jewish Press. “That’s physical assault.” Loomer also says she was shoved.
“Let’s just turn the tables around,” Loomer said. “If I were to do to Rashida exactly what she did to me, I’d be thrown in jail and people would say I committed a hate crime against a Muslim.”
She asked, “If these people [Tlaib and Ilhan Omar] amass even more power or they’re not held accountable for the crimes they commit, what’s to stop them from inciting violence against Jewish people?”
As for her congressional race against Rep. Lois Frankel next year, Loomer said it will be historic “in the sense that it’s the first time a Republican Jewish woman is going against a Democrat Jewish woman.” Loomer said she’s running, not to garner publicity, but to win – “and I’m going to win,” she predicted.
Florida’s 21st congressional district includes most of Palm Beach County and President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. It’s a Democratic district, but Loomer thinks she can flip it. “When I win, I will be President Trump’s congresswoman,” she said.
As for her opponent, Lomer said, “She’s the chair of the Democratic Women’s Caucus, and yet she has not condemned Ilhan Omar or Rashida Tlaib. I find that to be sickening because she’s Jewish and she has a duty as a Jew to condemn these women.”