'Put down the phones': MN legislator gives advice to Trump, Omar over Twitter feud

Targeting freshmen congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Ayana Pressley in a series of morning tweets, President Donald Trump asked, “Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how it is done.”

Condemning the behavior, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wrote, “When the President tells four American Congresswomen to go back to their countries, he reaffirms his plan to ‘Make America Great Again’ has always been about making American white again.”

This exchange followed a clash between Pelosi and the congresswomen over remarks made by Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff on Twitter last week.

“We don’t have the time or the luxury to fight on Twitter,” said Rep. Nick Zerwas (R-Elk River, Minn.) Sunday.

Zerwas told FOX 9 the focus needs to shift to solutions.

“We need to find a way past kind of raising the temperature and try to focus on trying to find true policy decisions on the border,” Zerwas said.

Omar also responded, tweeting, “Mr. President, as members of congress, the only country we swear an oath to is the United States. Which is why we are fighting to protect it from the worst, most corrupt and inept President we have ever seen.”

The partisan battle, Zerwas says, only detracts from the issues at hand.

“We need people to put down the phones, get off Twitter and pass federal immigration law that will actually enforce the border, keep us safe, remove folks that need to be removed from this country, but fix the immigration problem,” he said.

This morning’s remarks fueled so much backlash that President Trump tweeted about it again Sunday night, saying, “So sad to see the Democrats sticking up for people who speak badly of our country and who, in addition, hate Israel with a true and unbridled passion. Whenever confronted, they call their adversaries, including Nancy Pelosi, ‘Racist.’”

Trump later added if Democrats want to condone this behavior, that he looks, “forward to seeing you at the ballot box in 2020.”

Omar has responded to Trump's response. 

The Minnesota Republican Congressional Delegation did not return FOX 9’s request for comment on the issue.