(Headline USA) Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., suggested this week that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., wants to remove her from her congressional committees because he is racist.
Asked during an interview with MSNBC about McCarthy’s vow to remove her from the House Foreign Affairs Committee over her “anti-Semitic” behavior, Omar referenced her Somali background as a reason she should still be on the committee.
“I do have to say for a speaker that has faced a historic humiliation — that had gotten elected after 15 rounds, surpassing a record that was set pre-Civil War — there is an opportunity here, as he has said to not do things in the way in which it has been done before,” she said.
“I think it would be hypocritic [sic] for him to remove, you know, the first African-born on the subcommittee on Africa on the Foreign Affairs Committee, where I’ve had the opportunity to not only represent my constituents but the voice of so many people who have never had a voice on the Foreign Affairs Committee,” she continued.
Omar went on to say that she has not heard of any updates on the committee front, noting the House has to pass its rules package first.
“Hopefully, Monday, when we reconvene, that is on top of the agenda, and then the different caucuses, our caucus and their conference, will make appointments to committees and we will go from there,” she said.
McCarthy argued last year that Omar has lost her right to sit on the House Foreign Affairs Committee because of several anti-Semitic comments she has made over the course of her congressional career.
“We watch antisemitism grow, not just on our campuses, but we watched it grow In the halls of Congress,” he said at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s 2022 leadership meeting in November. “I promised you last year that as speaker she will no longer be on Foreign Affairs, and I’m keeping that promise.”
McCarthy has also said he will yank Reps. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., from their committee assignments.
