Marjorie Taylor Greene launches Islamophobic attack on Ilhan Omar calling her a ‘bloodthirsty’ Al Qaeda supporter

Far-right Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green has launched an Islamophobic attack on her Democratic colleague Ilhan Omar, calling the Minnesota representative "bloodythirsty" and an apologist for terrorism.

Ms Greene, who represents the north-western corner of Georgia in the US House of Representatives, appeared on a TV show hosted by former Trump advisor Steve Bannon on Tuesday to defend similar comments made by fellow Republican Rep Lauren Boebert.

Ms Boebert was forced to apologise "to anyone in the Muslim community I offended" on Friday after a video emerged showing her calling Ms Omar, a Somali-born US citizen and practicing Muslim who represents Minnesota in the House, "evil" and "black-hearted".

But on Tuesday Ms Green declared that "Lauren Boebert did nothing wrong", making a series of false or exaggerated claims about Ms Omar that linked her to Islamic terrorists.

"She hates Israel. She’s pro-Hamas. She’s pro-Al-Qaeda," said Ms Green on Mr Bannon’s ‘War Room’ show. “She’s basically an apologist for Islamic terrorists.

"There is no need to apologise to that woman because she will never stop. She’s bloodthirsty, she wants Republicans completely taken out, she wants Republicans jailed...

"This is one of the worst members of Congress. She’s a disgrace to our nation."

Meanwhile, on Monday, CNN’s investigative unit K-File unearthed a second video of Ms Boebert making similar comments. As in the first video, she told a story about getting into an elevator with Ms Omar and said she only felt safe because Ms Omar was not wearing a backpack.

Ms Omar responded: "It just gets worse. This is unhinged, and she continues to be emboldened by her party. This is their brand and it’s dangerous."

The 39-year old congresswoman did not specifically respond to Ms Greene’s comments on Tuesday, but said: "The evolution of this dangerous tale is frightening. Trying to come up with the most bigoted ways to traffic Islamophobic tropes is the brand of the Republican Party.

"It should be clear by now that there needs to be real consequence for this hateful anti-Muslim rhetoric. Enough!"

Ms Boebert had reached out to Ms Omar in a phone call on Monday, but Ms Omar hung up after Ms Boebert refused to issue a full public apology.

House Democrat leader Steny Hoyer said he was "considering what action ought to be taken" against Ms Boebert, and might censure her or strip her of her committee positions. He said Ms Boebert’s call with Ms Omar was "was not an apology [but] a rationalisation".

Ms Greene’s claim that Ms Omar supports Hamas and Al Qaeda was a repeat of attacks made by former president Donald Trump, distorting her previous comments.

In reality, Ms Omar has said that US foreign policy shares blame for Islamic terror attacks and compared atrocities committed by the two terror groups to those committed by the US and Israel. The latter comments drew fire from Democrats, who accused her of "drawing false equivalencies".

Ms Greene also claimed that Ms Omar married her brother, a long-running theory for which journalists have found little evidence and which Ms Omar has called "disgusting lies".

The Republican, who has defended alleged Capitol insurrectionists and visited them in jail, also claimed Ms Omar had supported "domestic terrorists" on the basis that she once tweeted a link to the Minnesota Freedom Fund, a charity that paid the bail bonds of people arrested during the George Floyd protests and riots.