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Omar Seeks Action Over Boebert Comments11/27 08:42
DENVER (AP) -- Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota called Friday for
House leaders to take "appropriate action" against Colorado Republican Rep.
Lauren Boebert for using anti-Muslim language in describing a recent encounter
she had with Omar at the U.S. Capitol.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other House Democratic leaders demanded Boebert
retract her comments.
According to a video clip posted by a Twitter account called PatriotTakes,
Boebert made the remarks this holiday break. In it, she says she and a staffer
were taking a Capitol elevator when she saw an alarmed Capitol police officer
running toward them. She said she turned to her left and spotted Omar standing
beside them.
""Well, she doesn't have a backpack. We should be fine," Boebert recalled
saying, drawing laughs from her audience. "And I said, 'Oh look, the jihad
squad decided to show up for work today.'"
Omar publicly urged Pelosi and GOP House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to
discipline Boebert.
"Saying I am a suicide bomber is no laughing matter," Omar tweeted. "
@GOPLeader and @SpeakerPelosi need to take appropriate action, normalizing this
bigotry not only endangers my life but the lives of all Muslims. Anti-Muslim
bigotry has no place in Congress."
Boebert has become a partisan lightning rod during her first term in
Congress, insisting on her right to bring a gun onto the floor of the House,
voting to overturn President Joe Biden's victory and maintaining a fiery
presence on social media in which she insists Biden and Democrats are leading
the country to socialism.
Pelosi and other top House Democrats called on Boebert in a statement later
Friday to "fully retract these comments and refrain from making similar ones
going forward." They also demanded that Republican leaders "to address this
priority with the Congresswoman and to finally take real action to confront
racism."
Omar said Thursday that Boebert had fabricated the story.
"Fact, this buffoon looks down when she sees me at the Capitol, this whole
story is made up," Omar tweeted. "Sad she thinks bigotry gets her clout."
Boebert tweeted earlier Friday that "I apologize to anyone in the Muslim
community I offended with my comment about Rep. Omar. I have reached out to her
office to speak with her directly. There are plenty of policy differences to
focus on without this unnecessary distraction."
The offices of McCarthy didn't immediately respond to email and telephone
requests for comment late Friday. Telephone calls and emails seeking comment
from Boebert and Omar also weren't immediately returned.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned Boebert's remarks in a
statement urging McCarthy and other Republican leaders to repudiate Boebert's
remarks.
It said Boebert's allusion to a backpack is an "Islamophobic smear that all
Muslims are terrorists," as well as her use of the term "jihad squad."
Omar and Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley and
Rashida Tlaib sometimes refer to themselves as "the squad."
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