On Sunday, United States House of Representatives member Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) called House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) “a liar and a coward.”
The inflammatory remarks by the Democratic Representative were made during an interview with Jake Tapper, anchor of CNN’s show “State of the Union.”
Minnesota’s 5th District Representative made the comment after viewing a video clip Tapper showed her of Leader McCarthy saying Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) had apologized to Omar both personally and publicly.
Boebert angered Omar when a Twitter video captured Boebert saying she was in a Capitol elevator and saw Rep. Omar. “And I said, ‘Well, she doesn’t have a backpack. We should be fine,’” Boebert can be heard announcing to the small audience in the video, although it is unclear if she said that aloud to Omar.
The Colorado Congresswoman considered there was only one floor to go before they got out of the elevator and she debated speaking her mind. “Should I say it, or not?” Boebert said she wondered, before continuing, “I looked over and I said, ‘Oh look, the jihad squad decided to show up for work today.’” Her Colorado audience laughed, whistled and applauded.
Omar denied the exchange took place and claimed that Boebert looks down when she sees her. “Anti-Muslim bigotry isn’t funny & shouldn’t be normalized,” opined Omar, who is Muslim. “Congress can’t be a place where hateful and dangerous Muslim tropes get no condemnation.”
On Sunday, Omar said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will conduct a vote to strip Boebert of her committee assignments because of the language she used about Omar.
“We should punish and sanction Boebert by stripping her of her committees, by rebuking her language,” Omar said. “By doing everything that we can to send a clear and decisive message to the American public that if the Republicans are not going to be adults and condemn this, that we are going to do that.”
A Friday tweet by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) excoriated House leaders for not stripping Boebert of all her committee seats.
“It’s embarrassing that there is any hesitation on this,” lamented the New York Congresswoman. “How can we have different consequences for different kinds of bigotry or incitement? This should be treated equally and consistently.”
“Incite against a member and you’re stripped,” continued Ocasio-Cortez. “End of story. She refuses to even apologize.”
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