By Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) slammed Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) for telling a made-up anti-Muslim story during Thanksgiving break.
In an attempt to entertain her laughing crowd, Boebert lied about having an encounter with Omar in the Capitol, calling it “not my first ‘Jihad Squad’ moment.”
In essence, the clout-chasing story that Boebert made up implied that Omar was a suicide bomber.
“I was getting into an elevator with one of my staffers,” Boebert said.
“And I see a Capitol police officer running to the elevator. I see fret all over his face, and he’s reaching, and the door’s shutting, like I can’t open it, like what’s happening. I look to my left, and there she is. Ilhan Omar. And I said, ‘Well, she doesn’t have a backpack, we should be fine,’” she continued.
As a result, Omar revealed on Thursday that the story was made up, calling Boebert a “buffoon” who was trying to get her “clout.”
“Anti-Muslim bigotry isn’t funny and shouldn’t be normalized,” Omar continued. “Congress can’t be a place where hateful and dangerous Muslims tropes get no condemnation.”
In a statement yesterday, Edward Ahmed Mitchell, national deputy director of the Council for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said that Boebert’s bigotry was “merely the latest symptom of the anti-Muslim bigotry that has plagued the Republican caucus in the House for years.”
The anti-Muslim remarks raised demands for Boebert to face formal censure — something that Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) has recently faced for tweeting a video that showed him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
The CNN anchor and chief Washington correspondent Jake Tapper condemned Boebert’s Islamophobic remarks earlier today, calling it “completely contrary to what the USA is supposed to stand for.”
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) stated that what Boebert did was “yet another blatant display of Islamophobia” targeting Omar, calling for holding Boebert accountable.
Earlier on Thursday, Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO-01) said “Capitol Hill is a toxic work environment for Muslim members and staff when bigots routinely spew racist, Islamophobic vitriol unchecked and with no consequence.”
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) joined democrats condemning Boebert’s anti-Muslim bigotry earlier today, making the condemnation bipartisan.
However, this isn’t the first time Boebert said Islamophobic, anti-Muslim remarks. Earlier on Tuesday, Boebert called Rep. Rashida Talib “one of the lesser relevant Jihad Squad members,” saying that the “squad hates America.”
Boebert has also been known as “QAnon Congresswoman” for saying that she hoped that a conspiracy theory, that a demonic global pedophile ring was behind the actions of a majority of Democrat politicians and senior government officials, would be true.
In her ad, Boebert said earlier in January that she would carry her firearm “in Washington, D.C., and in Congress.”
Earlier yesterday, Boebert tweeted an apology to the Muslim community after facing the bipartisan backlash, saying she had reached out to speak with Omar directly.
That being said, it’s also not the first time Boebert targeted Omar. During a debate over the censure of Gosar last week, Boebert referred to Omar as being part of the “Jihad Squad.”
In response, Omar hit back in a tweet, saying that Boebert “shamefully defecates and defiles the House of Representatives.”