House Democratic leaders are under pressure to throw out Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert (Colorado) from committees over her racial attacks against fellow Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. Dozens of lawmakers want Boebert stripped of her assignments on committees after her Islamophobic ‘jihad squad’ public comments.
A video of her interacting with residents of Colorado shows her making a series of disparaging comments against Ilhan Omar and Muslims in general. A letter from 5 Democratic caucus chairs that comprised Joyce Beatty, Pramila Jayapal, David Cicilline, Raul Ruiz, and Judy Chu, has been at the lead of calls for Lauren Boebert to immediately face the consequences of her Islamophobic tirade.
In a separate statement, 38 other House members also called for Lauren Boebert to be displaced from her committee roles.
Lauren Boebert Has Made Half-Hearted Attempts At Apologizing For Her Tirade
In the video released last month, Lauren Boebert is seen making comments attacking Muslims in general and Ilhan Omar in particular. She is seen describing meeting Omar in a Capitol elevator all the while referring to her as part of the ‘jihad squad’ and suggested that she resembled a suicide bomber. She said that she was relieved to see that Omar was not carrying a backpack.
Ilhan Omar has denied even meeting Lauren Boebert in an elevator and said that the right-wing Colorado congresswoman generally looks down if she sees Omar.
Omar said that Boebert had made up the whole story and expressed sadness at the attack, saying that she presumes that her bigotry wins her the support.
Omar said that anti-Muslim tirades shouldn’t be a subject of fun and bigotry should never be encouraged by a federal representative. She said that Congress shouldn’t be a place where dangerous and hateful Muslim tropes get away without being condemned.
Lauren Boebert made some half-hearted attempts at reaching out to Omar and had apologized on social media. Omar later said that Lauren Boebert had made an unproductive call to her where she had struck to her rhetoric. Omar had since received death threats where she has been referred to as a ‘jihadist.’
