Rep. Omar Responds After Obama Rips 'Defund The Police' Slogan

TWIN CITIES, MN — Rep. Ilhan Omar issued a response after former President Barack Obama criticized the "defund the police" slogan, which rose to prominence after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

"I guess you can use a snappy slogan like 'defund the police. But you know you lost a big audience the minute you say it, which makes it a lot less likely that you're actually going to get the changes you want done," Obama told Good Luck America host Peter Hamby in an interview published Wednesday.

Obama instead suggested that activists push for broader reforms that will garner bipartisan support.

"We lose people in the hands of police," Omar responded to the former president on Twitter.

"It’s not a slogan but a policy demand. And centering the demand for equitable investments and budgets for communities across the country gets us progress and safety."

While the vast majority of Democrats in Congress denounced the idea of defunding police, Omar has consistently pushed the demand since Floyd died while in Minneapolis police custody on Memorial Day.

"We need to completely dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department," Omar told a crowd of protesters in Minneapolis in June.