Ellison played the sympathy card and that’s exactly what he’s getting, the fact that he stretched the truth doesn’t seem to matter.

Conservatives Mock Ellison For Emotional Testimony On Muslim 9/11 First Responder — TPM

Rep. Keith Ellison’s emotional testimony before the House Homeland Security Committee’s hearing on Muslim radicalization as he recounted the tale of a 9/11 first responder who died in the attack was powerful stuff. But some conservatives had a different reaction — suggesting Ellison was putting on a show and even that there were not false rumors about the 9/11 first responder in the heated period after the attacks.

Mohammed Salman Hamdani was, as Ellison testified, “a 23-year-old paramedic, a New York City police cadet and a Muslim American. He was one of those brave first responders who tragically lost their lives in the 9/11 terrorist attacks almost a decade ago.” Ellison testified that some people “spread false rumors and speculated that he was in league with the attackers only because he was Muslim.”

“Ellison crying over a Muslim killed on 9/11,” Chris Plante, a former Pentagon correspondent for CNN who hosts a radio show on D.C. radio station WMAL, wrote on Twitter. “I assume he cried harder for the U.S. Airmen shot in Germany & our troops at Ft. Hood.” . . .

The website Weasel Zippers issued a “vomit alert” over Ellison’s testimony.

Matthew Shaffer of the National Review isn’t buying the story Ellison told, writing that his account of rumors about Hamdani didn’t check out with reality.

“There’s little evidence of the ‘rumors’ of which Ellison speaks, either,” Shaffer writes. “Poke around yourself. Go to Google and search for Mohammed Salman Hamdani’s name, using various time frames from before today’s hearings (say, in the week after the September 11 attack). You’ll discover two discordant sets of returns: none for sites and news reports accusing Hamdani of being a terrorist, and many thousands of pages honoring him as a hero while claiming that he was ‘widely accused’ of being a terrorist.” Sean Hannity picked up on the National Review story, which Fox Nation linked to with the headline “Ellison’s Emotional Story Stretches the Truth.”