AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
- Multiple videos have surfaced of Lauren Boebert suggesting Ilhan Omar, a Muslim, is a terrorist.
- House Republicans have signaled that they will not take action against Boebert for her comments.
- Omar told CNN’s Jake Tapper she has received countless death threats following Boebert’s comment.
On Sunday, US Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., told CNN “State of the Union” host Jake Tapper that she has received “too many [death threats] to count” after US Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., told a story implying that she is a terrorist.
—The Recount (@therecount) December 5, 2021
“There’s a general fear that I have, my staff has, and the community at large has,” Omar told Tapper. “We constantly hear from so many people across the country where their children’s hijabs have been pulled off. My own daughters have experience this. I have experienced this as a young person in this country.”
A video of Boebert speaking at a campaign event began circulating on social media on November 25 and showed her recounting a supposed run-in with Omar at the US Capitol. Boebert said that as she and a staffer stepped into an elevator with Omar, a Capitol Police officer ran toward the elevator with “fret all over his face.”
“Well, she doesn’t have a backpack. We should be fine,” Boebert said she told the officer. She then turned to Omar and added, “Oh look, the Jihad Squad decided to show up for work today.”
—PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) November 25, 2021
A day later, Boebert apologized to anyone in the Muslim community that she offended with her comments and said she reached out to speak with Omar.
Still, Omar said Boebert’s apology was insincere and called on House leadership to take “appropriate action” against Boebert for her Islamaphobic comments, to which Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., responded that people should “never apologize to Islamic terrorist sympathizers, communists, or those who fund murder with our tax dollars.”
On Wednesday, a second video surfaced of Boebert suggesting at a September campaign fundraiser that Omar was a suicide bomber, as well as “black-hearted” and “evil.”
While House Democrats have called for Boebert to be stripped of her committee assignments, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy signaled on Friday that House Republicans would not take action against her. Omar called McCarthy a “liar and a coward” in her interview with Tapper, calling Boebert’s comments “shocking” and “unbecoming of a congresswoman.”
“We have a responsibility as leaders. Words matter, and words can cause violence. [Boebert] knows that the language that she’s using, the audience that she’s using it for, is going to incite violence against myself and my community,” Omar said.
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