Dan Crenshaw Tells Fox News That Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Tweet To Him Is "Almost Not Worth Responding To"

U.S. Representative Dan Crenshaw responded to a tweet from fellow House member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Saturday, saying that it "almost wasn't worth it" to do so.

Appearing on Fox News Channel's Watters' World Saturday night, Crenshaw (R-Texas) was asked about Ocasio-Cortez's (D-N.Y.) tweet where she said the Texas congressman refused to co-sponsor a bill to support the 9/11 Victim's Compensation Fund.

"You refuse to cosponsor the 9/11 Victim's Compensation Fund, yet have the audacity to drum resentment towards Ilhan w/completely out-of-context quotes. In 2018, right-wing extremists were behind almost ALL US domestic terrorist killings. Why don't you go do something about that?," the New York congresswoman wrote in reply to a tweet from Crenshaw.

The 9/11 Victim's Compensation Fund bill, officially named the Never Forget the Heroes: Permanent Authorization of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Act, seeks to permanently provide money to the fund which was set up after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in order to assist survivors, and first responders with compensation after many developed illnesses from being exposed to toxic dust and other health hazards.

In early February, the fund announced it would cut payouts to victims as the money available in the fund has rapidly diminished as the number of claims filed have increased. Later that month, a bipartisan bill was announced by Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Cory Gardner (R-CO) and Reps. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Peter King (R-N.Y.).

"So [Ocasio-Cortez] thinks that co-sponsoring a bill which, by the way, isn't even out of committee yet means that's how you are defending 9/11 victims," Crenshaw said after he was asked by Fox News host Jesse Watters about the congresswoman's tweet. "Last I checked, I thought I did defend 9/11 victims. I went overseas and tried to make sure that this attack never happened again. And make sure to take the fight to the enemies that committed it."

Crenshaw served five deployments in ten years as a Navy SEAL, including a tour in Afghanistan where he was hit by an IED blast and lost his right eye.

Crenshaw went on to refer to Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, referencing a speech that the Democratic congresswoman gave in March to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). During the 20-minute speech, Omar said, "Far too long we have lived with the discomfort of being a second-class citizen, and frankly, I'm tired of it, and every single Muslim in this country should be tired of it…CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties."

Omar's speech, specifically the phrase "some people did something" has been a subject of contention for many conservatives who felt that her comments were making light of the terrorist attacks. The New York Post featured the phrase and a photo of the World Trade Center's twin towers burning as the publication's front page story on Thursday.

"The fact that they would double down on this and try to provide cover for Ilhan Omar when all you have to do is say hey, she misspoke, maybe she didn't mean in that way. Why don't you just say that?," Crenshaw said.

Watters agreed, saying, "All [Omar] has to say is 'I was a little too flip. Perhaps my language was a little too imprecise. I know that 3,000 people died on that horrible day and those 'some people' were radical Al-Queda terrorists who we've been trying to bring to justice.'" The host went on to say that Omar doesn't do that, but instead "doubled down" on her comments before bringing up a tweet the congresswoman posted on April 12.

"'The people — and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!' President George W. Bush

Was Bush downplaying the terrorist attack?

What if he was a Muslim," Omar wrote, including a link to a Washington Post fact-checking piece that provided context for her CAIR speech.

Crenshaw stated he didn't understand Omar's tweet, but agreed with Watters that Democrats use her "gender, or her Muslim faith, or her race as a shield."

"She says whatever she wants," Watters said. "It's crazy and completely irresponsible that a sitting member of Congress....the minute that you criticize her she says 'oh, you are attacking me because I'm a Muslim, or I'm a woman, or I'm black.'"

"This is the worst kind of argumentation," Crenshaw said. "So what they're doing is they're trying to silence any kind of arguments against them. Why? Because they don't actually have an argument to make. So what they do is they'll use identity to try and silence anyone else from saying anything. You're not allowed to say that because of who I am. Sorry, no, that's not how things work in a democracy, especially amongst members of Congress. You're supposed to debate ideas, if you say something we should call it out. That is the point of this. That's why we were elected."

"So to say that you're not allowed to talk about something because of identities is nonsense," Crenshaw added. "And it's also sort of bigoted in itself because you're assuming that everybody of a certain skin color or gender should think a certain way. That is really wrong; it's the content of your character that matters; it's the ideas that you have. And that's what we should actually be debating here."

Watters added that if a white male had said what Omar said, that male would still be being told "not to say that."

"It has nothing to do with what she looks like; it's what comes out of her mouth," the host said.

Crenshaw, along with other House Republicans such as Devin Nunes and Matt Gaetz, does not co-sponsor the 9/11 Compensation Fund bill. Only 10 of Texas' 36 Representatives are sponsoring the bill, and neither of the state's senators have signed on to support it.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also have not co-sponsored the bill.

Newsweek reached out to Crenshaw for comment on why he has not supported the bill, but did not receive a response before publication.