McCarthy Vows To Remove Ilhan Omar From Foreign Affairs Committee

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy over the weekend promised to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee.

McCarthy is poised to become to next speaker of the U.S. House after the Republicans took control following the midterm elections.

Speaking at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s 2022 leadership meeting in Las Vegas, McCarthy told the crowd Saturday that "I promised you last year that as speaker [Omar] will no longer be on Foreign Affairs, and I’m keeping that promise."

In 2019, Omar apologized after she was criticized over her tweets about Israel. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi characterized Omar's tweets as including "anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations."

If the elected speaker in January, McCarthy could not expel Omar from the committee on his own. He would need the entire House to vote in favor of her removal.

Omar responded to McCarthy's threat in a statement Sunday night, saying "from the moment I was elected, the Republican Party has made it their mission to use fear, xenophobia, Islamophobia and racism to target me on the House Floor and through millions of dollars of campaign ads."

"Whether it is Marjorie Taylor Greene holding a gun next to my head in campaign ads or Donald Trump threatening to ‘send me back’ to my country (despite the fact that I have been a proud citizen of the United States for more than 20 years), this constant stream of hate has led to hundreds of death threats and credible plots against me and my family."

Omar also said Republicans have "openly tolerated antisemitism, anti-Muslim hate and racism in their own party" and accused McCarthy of trying to "gin up fear and hate against Somali-Americans."