Jim Riches made the statement at the annual GOP gala at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. He also blasted New York Democratic lawmakers who refused to condemn the freshman congresswoman’s statement.
“They can’t deal with reality — Schumer, Nadler, all the New York politicians were quiet. They didn’t say one thing,” he said. “I did nothing wrong,” he added. “She [Ilhan Omar] owes us an apology and we are going to get it.”
Riches, who wrote a seething op-ed for The Post after Omar’s remarks, also said he supported President Trump’s Twittervideo that interwove video of Omar’s remarks and footage that showed theterrorist attack. “He told it like it was that is what happened that day,” Riches said of Trump’s tweet. “Donald Trump is 100 percent right.”
Former New York Governor George Pataki also got a standing ovation from the crowd when he called for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to remove Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee.
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| Retd FDNY Deputy Chief Jim Riches whose son Jimmy was one of the slain 9/11 firefighters. |
On 9/11/01 my son, firefighter Jimmy Riches was murdered along with close to 3,000 American citizens by Muslim terrorists. I rushed to Engine 4 in Lower Manhattan when I heard what was happening. That’s where my son worked.
As I came over the Brooklyn Bridge, the towers had both already fallen. All the rigs at the firehouse were gone, so I knew they were all at the World Trade Center. When I got there, I saw the death and destruction — people lying there dead and mangled.
We picked up the bodies and saw how gruesome it was. Those people died a horrible death. We were there for 9 months picking up body parts, pieces. We found my son’s body six months later, March 5, 2002. He was at the North Tower. We got to bury him.
People talk about closure, but that’s not closure. I’ll never get closure until my son walks through that door again. It was the worst day for me, to lose my son and all those other people. They went to work that day to help people and they ended up murdered.
My son died doing his job, helping others in distress. The American public said NEVER FORGET 9/11! Now, we have people who were working down there getting sick and dying. It hasn’t ended. I think Omar owes an apology to America. She owes an apology to the families. Maybe she should talk to some of them — maybe they could open her eyes.
There’s still 1,000 bodies that have never been recovered. It’s very sad that she could make such light of it. She came here from Somalia. She was educated here. We took care of her. And now she’s saying 9/11 was nothing? Until the time that you realize the importance of 9/11 as the worst day in American history, I call for your removal from Congress.
Deputy Chief Jim Riches FDNY, retired.
Father of firefighter
Jimmy Riches, FDNY Engine 4
9/11/01.
Rest In Peace
Related posts at following links:
Congress-Muslim Ilhan Omar: 9/11 Was "Some People Did Something"