Rep. Ilhan Omar blasts GOP's 'vengeance tour' for their 'master' Donald Trump
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., attacked House Republicans on MSNBC's "The ReidOut" Wednesday for working to have her removed from the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., attacked ongoing efforts by House Republicans to remove her from the Foreign Affairs Committee as part of a "vengeance tour" for "their master" Donald Trump.
Omar appeared on MSNBC’s "The ReidOut" where host Joy Reid complimented the congresswoman for being "surprisingly nonplussed" on the "revenge tactic" by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
"They’ve been on a vengeance tour," Omar agreed. "And, you know, they’ve been very clear last night when the rules debate was happening in the Rules Committee, ‘you did this and we’re going to do it without context.’"
She continued, "It’s very blatantly clear when we removed [Reps. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., and Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.] from their committees in the last cycle, it was because they threatened violence against members of Congress. And it had nothing to do about their work on committees. It had nothing to do about opinions that they might have on policy."
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., appeared on MSNBC's "The ReidOut" Wednesday night to discuss House Republicans' plans to remove her from the Foreign Affairs Committee. (MSNBC)
She added, "And what they have done now is deny Eric Swalwell and Adam Schiff their committees because they disagreed in the way in which they led the impeachments against Trump, so this is extracting [sic] revenge for Trump, their master. And certainly, I’ve been a target for them from the beginning."
HOUSE LAWMAKERS PREPARE TO REMOVE ILHAN OMAR FROM FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
Speaker McCarthy told FOX News that the House will vote Thursday to kick Omar off the Foreign Affairs Committee after securing enough votes.
Meanwhile, Omar continued to lash out at Republicans for what she considered an attack on her First Amendment rights to criticize U.S. policies.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., spearheaded efforts to remove Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee based on her past comments on Israel. (NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images)
"And that comes back to the fact that they don’t actually think Muslims or, you know, refugees or immigrants in this country can appropriately criticize U.S. policy, can appropriately criticize, you know, policies of other countries. And to me, that is against my First Amendment rights. It is against what our Constitution allows. It’s against the principles we all believe as Americans, about the freedom to debate and engage in dissent," Omar said.
Omar has been criticized for repeated attacks against Israel as well as her comparison of the terrorist groups Hamas and the Taliban to Israel and the U.S. While Omar did not elaborate on her comments during the MSNBC segment, she emphasized that the purpose of the Foreign Affairs Committee is to offer "oversight" and "critique."
"And I think the most absurd part of this whole argument is somehow that you have to be an objective decision maker. That is the most ridiculous litmus test for any member of Congress. You know, we famously say vote your district," Omar said.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., previously compared Israel and the United States to Hamas and the Taliban. (Photo by Olivier Douliery/ABACAPRESS.COM)
She added, "So your perspective, the perspective of your constituents, their insight, all of that is supposed to be injected into the decision-making process. And so, to have that requirement of me and not to make that requirement of anyone else, I mean, if you think about somebody like Marjorie Taylor Greene being on Homeland Security, this is someone who believed 9/11 was an inside job. Someone who doesn’t believe in allowing Muslims, how is she supposed to carry out the objectives of the Patriot Act?"