Marco Margaritoff
Sat, September 20, 2025
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) on Friday stood firm during a heated discussion on CNN about her comments on Charlie Kirk, the late right-wing activist fatally shot last week, whom she called a “hateful man” during a town hall in Minnesota last weekend.
“The Source” host Kaitlan Collins asked Omar why she used those terms along with reposting a social media video that called Kirk a “reprehensible” Dr. Frankenstein-like figure, whose own “monster” — his unwavering defense of gun rights — had contributed to his death.
Omar replied, “Because there were a lot of things in the video that I did agree with.”
“Obviously, we share videos, won’t have to agree with every single word — but I do believe that he was a reprehensible, hateful man,” she continued Friday. “Like, that is my view of the words that he has said about every single identity that I belong to.”
Kirk made numerous racist, misogynistic and xenophobic comments over the course of his public life. He not only said certain Black women “do not have the brain processing power” to be taken seriously, but that the “conquest values” of Muslims are a danger to the U.S.
Omar is a Black Muslim, born in Somalia.
“He didn’t believe that we should have equal access to anything,” she told Collins. “He also just didn’t even believe I could be smart enough, I could have thoughts that could be equal to a white man. Where are we missing … who this man was, and the things he said?”
Omar then asked Collins directly, “Do you not find that reprehensible, Kaitlin?”
Collins said she doesn’t “subscribe to that” rhetoric, prompting Omar to ask if she agreed with Kirk’s remarks about the “brain processing power” of Black people. When Collins said she doesn’t, Omar once again asked her interviewer if she finds his words “reprehensible.”
Collins said she doesn’t “justify” them, but that people found Omar’s criticism “jarring.”
Omar responded, “What I find jarring is that there’s so many people willing to excuse the most reprehensible things that he said, that they agree with that, that they’re willing to have monuments for him, that they want to create a day to honor him, and that they want to produce resolutions in the House of Congress, honoring his life and legacy.”
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) on Wednesday pushed for a censure resolution that accused Omar of having “smeared” Kirk and urged Congress to strip her of her citizenship. It was tabled after four Republicans joined all Democrats in a vote of 214 to 213 against it.
Omar wrote on social media after Kirk died that her “heart breaks for his wife and children” and that she doesn’t wish violence “on anyone.” The political divide has only grown wider, however, with condolences seemingly drowned out by right-wing anger.
The shooting also prompted one Republican lawmaker to file legislation in Kirk’s honor, as Omar noted. Sen. Shane Jett (R-Okla.) filed two bills Wednesday that would require public universities in Oklahoma to build statues of Kirk and commemorate him with a holiday.
Omar argued Friday that there’s a difference between grief and retribution against critics.
“It is one thing to care about his life, because obviously so many people loved him, including his children and wife,” she said. “But I am not going to sit here and be judged for not wanting to honor any legacy this man has left behind, that should be left in the dustbin of history.”
Republicans grapple with backlash over tabling Omar censure brought by Mace
Emily Brooks
Sat, September 20, 2025
The four Republicans who voted with Democrats against reprimanding Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) over comments about Charlie Kirk are getting excoriated by the online right — with Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), who prompted the vote on the Omar censure, leading the charge against Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) in particular.
The four — Reps. Mike Flood (R-Neb.), Jeff Hurd (Colo.), Tom McClintock (Calif.) and Mills — are defending themselves from the attacks, putting out videos and statements making their case. Flood also referred Omar for further investigation by the House Ethics Committee.
And Mills confronted Mace directly.
Mace accused Mills of sending her a “threatening message” Wednesday night. According to a copy of the message seen by The Hill, Mills talked about highlighting Mace’s previous statements criticizing President Trump for Jan. 6 if she is going to put out messages about him.
“You want to put me out for not wanting to penalize someone for 1A? Why don’t we show your words blaming Trump for J6?” Mills said in the message. “It was nothing to do with you or against you.”
Mace responded: “Not really helping the allegations of you threatening women, are you…”
She was referring to an ex-girlfriend of Mills alleging to police that he threatened to release nude images of her after they broke up — which Mills has denied.
Mills told Politico earlier this week that “if reminding someone of their own remarks is a threat, well, then that means everyone threatens each other every day to remind someone, ‘Hey, you voted for this, and you did this and you voted for this.’”
Mace had forced a vote on a resolution to formally censure Omar and remove her from her committee assignments, alleging Omar “smeared Charlie Kirk and implied he was to blame for his own murder” and pointing to a video Omar reposted on social media critiquing Kirk’s politics after the assassination.
The resolution referenced an interview that Omar gave in the aftermath of Kirk’s assassination, but did not quote her own words. Instead, it directly quoted from the re-posted video that said Kirk, whose suspected killer has been described as left-wing by government officials, “was Dr. Frankenstein and his monster shot him through the neck.”
The House voted to table the resolution 214-213, preventing it from moving to debate and a vote on the underlying censure, effectively ending Mace’s effort to formally reprimand Omar and remove her from committees.
Mace immediately called out the four Republicans who voted to table the measure on social media, saying they “sided with Democrats to protect Ilhan Omar.”
A wave of right–wing influencers and commentators followed, naming the GOP members and posting their photos while calling for primary challenges and calling them “cowards” and “RINOs” — racking up tens of thousands of interactions.
Mills was the last-minute deciding vote that pushed the resolution to fail — which came as he faced a retaliatory censure brought by Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) over the disputed allegations of domestic violence, threatening to release nude videos of an ex-girlfriend, and making false financial disclosures.
Axios had reported the day before that Casar was expected to withdraw his push to censure Mills if the Omar censure failed, just as a similar retaliatory censure of Mills was abandoned after Republicans voted to table a resolution to censure Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.), who faces charges resulting from a clash with officials at an immigrant detention center.
Mills posted a video on Friday addressing commentary that his vote against censuring Omar was a “vote-for-vote exchange” to avoid a vote on his censure. He noted he voted in favor of advancing the McIver censure, despite knowing it could lead to a vote about him.
“The thing about Ilhan Omar’s comments – were they vile? Were they abhorrent? Were they evil? In my opinion, yes,” Mills said, going on to praise Kirk while saying he believed in “open dialogue” and warning against making Omar a “free speech martyr.”
In a post alongside the video, Mills called for Omar to be investigated for immigration fraud in reference to unproven claims long pushed by conservatives.
Mace fired back on social media by noting Mills had voted in favor of a resolution to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) in 2023 over comments she made about the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel.
“He voted to censure Rashida Tlaib. By his own logic, that’s a direct violation of her First Amendment rights. The hypocrisy is exhausting,” Mace said.
Flood, meanwhile, hopes to spark an investigation by the House Ethics Committee. He sent a letter to the chairman and ranking member listing 19 statements and incidents relating to Omar that he says collectively “speak to a pattern of behavior that does not reflect creditably on the House,” including her interview and the video she reposted. Flood said Omar “must be held accountable” and promised to submit a formal complaint to the panel.
Flood, unlike Mills, voted with a handful of other Republicans to table McIver’s censure.
Omar, for her part, said that “no one should be going after” the Republicans who voted to table the measure.
“Four Republicans didn’t join Democrats to protect me, they joined to defend the first amendment and sanity,” Omar said in a post on X, adding: “This country stands for freedom and right now what people are doing is totally unacceptable.”
McClintock issued a statement and took to the House floor to explain his vote, stressing the importance of the principles of free speech.
While Omar’s comments were “vile and contemptible,” McClintock said in the statement, he argued that hateful speech is still protected speech and said that the House has “already gone too far down this road” with formal censure.
“Omar’s comments were not made in the House and even if they were, they broke no House rules,” McClintock said.
Hurd, who called Omar’s statements “ghoulish and evil” in a statement, said he had been hearing both from constituents who supported the vote and those who opposed it.
“I think it’s the right decision. I stand by it,” Hurd told The Hill.
“It was a tough vote politically, but I came here to do the job that I was sent here to do, and part of that is following the Constitution and and also improving this institution as well, and making sure that we’re not engaging in this back and forth censuring on both sides,” Hurd said. “Censure should be reserved for the most serious offenses. And I think exercising one’s first amendment rights, however wrong-headedly, is not deserving of censure.”
One of the House’s most notable free speech advocates, however, voted with all other Republicans against tabling the censure: Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.).
“I think the debate would have been good,” Massie told The Hill.
Massie that he was “willing to entertain the thought” of removing Omar from her committees because Democrats had kicked Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) of their committees “for less than that.”
“In a perfect world, we wouldn’t be doing any of this stuff, but I mean, they do it to us,” Massie said.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The four — Reps. Mike Flood (R-Neb.), Jeff Hurd (Colo.), Tom McClintock (Calif.) and Mills — are defending themselves from the attacks, putting out videos and statements making their case. Flood also referred Omar for further investigation by the House Ethics Committee.
And Mills confronted Mace directly.
Mace accused Mills of sending her a “threatening message” Wednesday night. According to a copy of the message seen by The Hill, Mills talked about highlighting Mace’s previous statements criticizing President Trump for Jan. 6 if she is going to put out messages about him.
“You want to put me out for not wanting to penalize someone for 1A? Why don’t we show your words blaming Trump for J6?” Mills said in the message. “It was nothing to do with you or against you.”
Mace responded: “Not really helping the allegations of you threatening women, are you…”
She was referring to an ex-girlfriend of Mills alleging to police that he threatened to release nude images of her after they broke up — which Mills has denied.
Mills told Politico earlier this week that “if reminding someone of their own remarks is a threat, well, then that means everyone threatens each other every day to remind someone, ‘Hey, you voted for this, and you did this and you voted for this.’”
Mace had forced a vote on a resolution to formally censure Omar and remove her from her committee assignments, alleging Omar “smeared Charlie Kirk and implied he was to blame for his own murder” and pointing to a video Omar reposted on social media critiquing Kirk’s politics after the assassination.
The resolution referenced an interview that Omar gave in the aftermath of Kirk’s assassination, but did not quote her own words. Instead, it directly quoted from the re-posted video that said Kirk, whose suspected killer has been described as left-wing by government officials, “was Dr. Frankenstein and his monster shot him through the neck.”
The House voted to table the resolution 214-213, preventing it from moving to debate and a vote on the underlying censure, effectively ending Mace’s effort to formally reprimand Omar and remove her from committees.
Mace immediately called out the four Republicans who voted to table the measure on social media, saying they “sided with Democrats to protect Ilhan Omar.”
A wave of right–wing influencers and commentators followed, naming the GOP members and posting their photos while calling for primary challenges and calling them “cowards” and “RINOs” — racking up tens of thousands of interactions.
Mills was the last-minute deciding vote that pushed the resolution to fail — which came as he faced a retaliatory censure brought by Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) over the disputed allegations of domestic violence, threatening to release nude videos of an ex-girlfriend, and making false financial disclosures.
Axios had reported the day before that Casar was expected to withdraw his push to censure Mills if the Omar censure failed, just as a similar retaliatory censure of Mills was abandoned after Republicans voted to table a resolution to censure Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.), who faces charges resulting from a clash with officials at an immigrant detention center.
Mills posted a video on Friday addressing commentary that his vote against censuring Omar was a “vote-for-vote exchange” to avoid a vote on his censure. He noted he voted in favor of advancing the McIver censure, despite knowing it could lead to a vote about him.
“The thing about Ilhan Omar’s comments – were they vile? Were they abhorrent? Were they evil? In my opinion, yes,” Mills said, going on to praise Kirk while saying he believed in “open dialogue” and warning against making Omar a “free speech martyr.”
In a post alongside the video, Mills called for Omar to be investigated for immigration fraud in reference to unproven claims long pushed by conservatives.
Mace fired back on social media by noting Mills had voted in favor of a resolution to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) in 2023 over comments she made about the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel.
“He voted to censure Rashida Tlaib. By his own logic, that’s a direct violation of her First Amendment rights. The hypocrisy is exhausting,” Mace said.
Flood, meanwhile, hopes to spark an investigation by the House Ethics Committee. He sent a letter to the chairman and ranking member listing 19 statements and incidents relating to Omar that he says collectively “speak to a pattern of behavior that does not reflect creditably on the House,” including her interview and the video she reposted. Flood said Omar “must be held accountable” and promised to submit a formal complaint to the panel.
Flood, unlike Mills, voted with a handful of other Republicans to table McIver’s censure.
Omar, for her part, said that “no one should be going after” the Republicans who voted to table the measure.
“Four Republicans didn’t join Democrats to protect me, they joined to defend the first amendment and sanity,” Omar said in a post on X, adding: “This country stands for freedom and right now what people are doing is totally unacceptable.”
McClintock issued a statement and took to the House floor to explain his vote, stressing the importance of the principles of free speech.
While Omar’s comments were “vile and contemptible,” McClintock said in the statement, he argued that hateful speech is still protected speech and said that the House has “already gone too far down this road” with formal censure.
“Omar’s comments were not made in the House and even if they were, they broke no House rules,” McClintock said.
Hurd, who called Omar’s statements “ghoulish and evil” in a statement, said he had been hearing both from constituents who supported the vote and those who opposed it.
“I think it’s the right decision. I stand by it,” Hurd told The Hill.
“It was a tough vote politically, but I came here to do the job that I was sent here to do, and part of that is following the Constitution and and also improving this institution as well, and making sure that we’re not engaging in this back and forth censuring on both sides,” Hurd said. “Censure should be reserved for the most serious offenses. And I think exercising one’s first amendment rights, however wrong-headedly, is not deserving of censure.”
One of the House’s most notable free speech advocates, however, voted with all other Republicans against tabling the censure: Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.).
“I think the debate would have been good,” Massie told The Hill.
Massie that he was “willing to entertain the thought” of removing Omar from her committees because Democrats had kicked Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) of their committees “for less than that.”
“In a perfect world, we wouldn’t be doing any of this stuff, but I mean, they do it to us,” Massie said.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Ilhan Omar Applauds ‘Principled’ Ted Cruz for Jimmy Kimmel Concerns
Mediaite
Sat, September 20, 2025
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) said she is experiencing a rare moment of unity with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) after the Republican raised concerns over the FCC potentially pressuring ABC to suspend late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.
“Ted seems to be one of the few people on the right who seems to have a principled stance on this,” Omar said on MSNBC’s The Weekend on Saturday night.
Omar then went into wordy description of the First Amendment, followed by her claiming the FCC threatened to revoke ABC’s broadcast license if Kimmel was not pulled off of the air.
“When the government in itself says we are not going to renew the license unless this person’s voice is taken off the air, then we get to a level of censorship that does violate someone’s First Amendment rights,” Omar said.
She added this is all part of how President Donald Trump “cracks down on free speech.”
Her comments come a few days after ABC suspended Kimmel for saying the man who killed conservative activist Charlie Kirk was a Republican.
“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them,” Kimmel said on his show last Monday.
Kimmel was criticized by many for the claim, considering the reported details point to Tyler Robinson, Kirk’s suspected killer, being a leftist.
Robinson reportedly had a romantic relationship with his trans roommate, used phrases associated with Antifa, and, in text messages released on Tuesday, said he shot Kirk because of the conservative influencer’s “hatred.” Utah officials have said Robinson was “indoctrinated” in far-left “ideology” in the years leading up to Kirk’s murder.
ABC suspended Kimmel on Wednesday, after pushback from Nexstar and Sinclair, the companies behind its biggest affiliates, and hours after FCC Chair Brendan Carr said “remedies” would be pursued against the comedian, if ABC did not punish him first.
“I mean look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said. “These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Cruz, a day later, said he was not a fan of what Carr said.
“Look, I like Brendan Carr. He’s a good guy,” Cruz said on his podcast. “But what he said there is dangerous as hell. ”
On that point, Omar and Cruz are aligned.
Omar has been busy making the media rounds on Saturday. Earlier in the day, she ripped Kirk on CNN, saying his ideas should ” be in the dustbin of history.”
Mediaite
Sat, September 20, 2025
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) said she is experiencing a rare moment of unity with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) after the Republican raised concerns over the FCC potentially pressuring ABC to suspend late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.
“Ted seems to be one of the few people on the right who seems to have a principled stance on this,” Omar said on MSNBC’s The Weekend on Saturday night.
Omar then went into wordy description of the First Amendment, followed by her claiming the FCC threatened to revoke ABC’s broadcast license if Kimmel was not pulled off of the air.
“When the government in itself says we are not going to renew the license unless this person’s voice is taken off the air, then we get to a level of censorship that does violate someone’s First Amendment rights,” Omar said.
She added this is all part of how President Donald Trump “cracks down on free speech.”
Her comments come a few days after ABC suspended Kimmel for saying the man who killed conservative activist Charlie Kirk was a Republican.
“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them,” Kimmel said on his show last Monday.
Kimmel was criticized by many for the claim, considering the reported details point to Tyler Robinson, Kirk’s suspected killer, being a leftist.
Robinson reportedly had a romantic relationship with his trans roommate, used phrases associated with Antifa, and, in text messages released on Tuesday, said he shot Kirk because of the conservative influencer’s “hatred.” Utah officials have said Robinson was “indoctrinated” in far-left “ideology” in the years leading up to Kirk’s murder.
ABC suspended Kimmel on Wednesday, after pushback from Nexstar and Sinclair, the companies behind its biggest affiliates, and hours after FCC Chair Brendan Carr said “remedies” would be pursued against the comedian, if ABC did not punish him first.
“I mean look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said. “These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Cruz, a day later, said he was not a fan of what Carr said.
“Look, I like Brendan Carr. He’s a good guy,” Cruz said on his podcast. “But what he said there is dangerous as hell. ”
On that point, Omar and Cruz are aligned.
Omar has been busy making the media rounds on Saturday. Earlier in the day, she ripped Kirk on CNN, saying his ideas should ” be in the dustbin of history.”
