Barack Obama: “It's a chance to give thanks for our blessings and reaffirm our faith, while spending time with the people we love.”

The fact that any president, or any administration, is willing to engage in such transparent efforts to intimidate someone should outrage all Americans, regardless of how they feel about Congresswoman Omar’s political views.

People need to “rediscover what’s the story we tell about how we’re going to live together, and see each other, and recognise each other, and disagree, and yet, still care for each other”.

I’m going to insist that we can do better than we’re doing right now.

The effort, he said, “should outrage all Americans, regardless of how they feel about Congresswoman Omar’s political views.”