Colin Campbell
·Managing Editor
Sun, December 5, 2021
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., harshly criticized House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Sunday for his tepid response to anti-Muslim remarks made by Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo.
"McCarthy is a liar and a coward. He doesn't have the ability to condemn the kind of bigoted Islamophobia and anti-Muslim rhetoric that are being trafficked by a member of his conference," Omar said on CNN's "State of the Union."
"We have to be able to stand up to them. And we have to push them to reckon with the fact that their party, right now, is normalizing anti-Muslim bigotry," she continued.
Omar was responding to McCarthy's answer after being asked on Friday why he didn't forcefully condemn Boebert's comments In a video clip that emerged last month, which the Colorado lawmaker on stage comparing Omar to a terrorist. ”Well, she doesn’t have a backpack. We should be fine,” Boebert said about a time she allegedly shared an elevator with Omar. (Omar denies the incident ever happened.) Boebert also called Omar a member of the "jihad squad."
More than 40 House Democrats have called on Boebert to be stripped of her committee assignments, saying in a joint letter last week that there "must be consequences when Members of Congress demonize an entire religion and promote hate from their positions of public trust." A handful of GOP lawmakers have also condemned Boebert.
On Friday, though, McCarthy claimed that Boebert had already resolved the issue.
"Let me be very clear. This party is for anyone and everyone who craves freedom, that supports religious liberty," the House GOP leader said. "She apologized publicly. She apologized personally," McCarthy said.
But Boebert didn't issue a full public apology. She had tweeted that she apologized “to anyone in the Muslim community I offended,” without mentioning Omar. And by both lawmakers' accounts, their phone call afterward went awry, with Omar asking for a direct public apology, being rebuffed and hanging up on Boebert.
"Rep. Boebert refused to publicly acknowledge her hurtful and dangerous comments," Omar said in a statement after the phone call. "She instead doubled down on her rhetoric, and I decided to end the unproductive phone call."
Boebert offered more incendiary rhetoric in her own when recounting of the phone call.
"Rejecting an apology and hanging up on someone is part of 'cancel culture 101,' and a pillar of the Democrat Party. Make no mistake, I will continue to fearlessly put America first, never sympathizing with terrorists. Unfortunately, Ilhan can't say the same thing," Boebert said in an Instagram video.
How McCarthy has handled this controversy sheds light on his effort to become the next House speaker if Republicans retake control of the chamber next year. He has largely avoided directly criticizing far-right members of his caucus who spark firestorms with their attacks on Democrats.
McCarthy responded similarly to a recent controversy in which Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., posted an animated video depicting him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and swinging a sword at President Biden. Democrats stripped Gosar of his committee assignments; McCarthy said he would restore them as speaker.
Ilhan Omar: Kevin McCarthy Is a ‘Coward and a Liar’ for Not Condemning Boebert’s Islamophobic Comments
Peter Wade
Peter Wade
ROLLING STONE
Sun, December 5, 2021
Ilhan Omar - Credit: CNN/Screencap
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) called Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy a “liar and a coward” for his refusal to condemn remarks by Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) where she suggested that Omar, a Muslim who wears a hijab, was a terrorist who might detonate an explosive device in the Capitol. But, Omar said, she is “confident” that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will take “decisive action” against Boebert.
Omar called Boebert’s comments “shocking” and “unacceptable” during an interview with Jake Tapper on Sunday, adding, “It’s very unbecoming of a congresswoman to use that kind of derogatory, dangerous, inciting language against a colleague.”
More from Rolling Stone
Ilhan Omar Plays Voicemail of Vile Death Threat She Received After Boebert Video
Lauren Boebert Got a Lot of Mileage Out of Her Bigoted Ilhan Omar Elevator Story, New Video Shows
Lauren Boebert Confirms Her Apology to Ilhan Omar Was Bullshit
Since video of the remarks started circulating on social media, Omar — who is one of the first Muslim women to serve in Congress — has said she’s received numerous death threats. Last week she played a voicemail aloud at a press conference where a man told her, “You’re a fucking traitor. You will not live much longer, bitch.”
When asked about Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s refusal to condemn Boebert’s remarks and his claims that Boebert has apologized (even though she doubled-down , Omar said, “McCarthy is a liar and a coward.” Omar continued, “He doesn’t have the ability to condemn the kind of bigoted Islamophobia and anti-Muslim rhetoric that are being trafficked by a member of his conference.”
Tapper interjected, asking, “Why doesn’t he have the ability to do that?”
“This is who they are,” the congresswoman answered. “And we have to be able to stand up to them and we have to be able to push them to reckon with the fact that their party right now is normalizing anti-Muslim bigotry.”
Tapper pointed out that a few Republican members of the House have condemned Boebert’s comments. Omar responded by noting that those members have been attacked for doing so. “Which tells you that their conference condones this, and that’s why it’s dangerous. Because people across the world, not just in the United States, are seeing this and they’re worried. As you know, Islamophobia is on the rise … This isn’t about me, this is about all of the young girls across this country who wear the hijab so proudly who are afraid for their lives.”
The conversation then turned to whether Democrats can take action can be taken against Boebert for her bigotry. “We should punish and sanction Boebert by stripping her of her committees, by rebuking her language, by doing everything that we can to send a clear message to the American public that if Republicans are not going to be adults and condemn this, that we are going to do that.”
Omar added, “I’ve had a conversation with the speaker and I’m very confident that she will take decisive action next week.”
She further explained why she trusts Pelosi: “As you know, when I first got to Congress, I was worried that I wasn’t going to be allowed to be sworn in because there was a ban on the hijab. She promised me she would take care of it. She fulfilled that promise. She’s made another promise to me she will take care of this, and I believe her.”
Sun, December 5, 2021
Ilhan Omar - Credit: CNN/Screencap
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) called Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy a “liar and a coward” for his refusal to condemn remarks by Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) where she suggested that Omar, a Muslim who wears a hijab, was a terrorist who might detonate an explosive device in the Capitol. But, Omar said, she is “confident” that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will take “decisive action” against Boebert.
Omar called Boebert’s comments “shocking” and “unacceptable” during an interview with Jake Tapper on Sunday, adding, “It’s very unbecoming of a congresswoman to use that kind of derogatory, dangerous, inciting language against a colleague.”
More from Rolling Stone
Ilhan Omar Plays Voicemail of Vile Death Threat She Received After Boebert Video
Lauren Boebert Got a Lot of Mileage Out of Her Bigoted Ilhan Omar Elevator Story, New Video Shows
Lauren Boebert Confirms Her Apology to Ilhan Omar Was Bullshit
Since video of the remarks started circulating on social media, Omar — who is one of the first Muslim women to serve in Congress — has said she’s received numerous death threats. Last week she played a voicemail aloud at a press conference where a man told her, “You’re a fucking traitor. You will not live much longer, bitch.”
When asked about Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s refusal to condemn Boebert’s remarks and his claims that Boebert has apologized (even though she doubled-down , Omar said, “McCarthy is a liar and a coward.” Omar continued, “He doesn’t have the ability to condemn the kind of bigoted Islamophobia and anti-Muslim rhetoric that are being trafficked by a member of his conference.”
Tapper interjected, asking, “Why doesn’t he have the ability to do that?”
“This is who they are,” the congresswoman answered. “And we have to be able to stand up to them and we have to be able to push them to reckon with the fact that their party right now is normalizing anti-Muslim bigotry.”
Tapper pointed out that a few Republican members of the House have condemned Boebert’s comments. Omar responded by noting that those members have been attacked for doing so. “Which tells you that their conference condones this, and that’s why it’s dangerous. Because people across the world, not just in the United States, are seeing this and they’re worried. As you know, Islamophobia is on the rise … This isn’t about me, this is about all of the young girls across this country who wear the hijab so proudly who are afraid for their lives.”
The conversation then turned to whether Democrats can take action can be taken against Boebert for her bigotry. “We should punish and sanction Boebert by stripping her of her committees, by rebuking her language, by doing everything that we can to send a clear message to the American public that if Republicans are not going to be adults and condemn this, that we are going to do that.”
Omar added, “I’ve had a conversation with the speaker and I’m very confident that she will take decisive action next week.”
She further explained why she trusts Pelosi: “As you know, when I first got to Congress, I was worried that I wasn’t going to be allowed to be sworn in because there was a ban on the hijab. She promised me she would take care of it. She fulfilled that promise. She’s made another promise to me she will take care of this, and I believe her.”
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