U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has defended Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., following the latter’s potential removal from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Warren has stated that the Republicans were trying to “smear” Omar’s name over her past remarks claiming that they were antisemitic.
In a recent television interview, Omar stated that her removal from the committee would be “politically motivated” and it also stems from her background, adding that many “members don’t believe a Muslim, a refugee, an African should even be in Congress.”
In a tweet, Warren defended Omar saying that she would have been the “only House Foreign Affairs Committee member who’s lived in a refugee camp.” She added that it was shameful to try and smear Omar’s name and to have her removed from a Committee that she could have truly given valuable expertise on.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is currently trying to convince holdouts from the GOP to agree to remove Omar from the committee because of the comments that she has made against Israel. The country is considered to be America’s oldest ally in the Middle East. Omar has apologized for her previous comments, some of which equated the United States and Israel with Hamas and the Taliban. Omar has also been criticized for minimizing 9-11.
During her TV interview, Omar did not call out McCarthy but rather pointed to former President Donald Trump’s, GOP Reps. Marjory Taylor Greene’s and Lauren Boebert’s comments about a Muslim serving in Congress.
