The Squad melts over Omar’s committee departure: Cori Bush calls it ‘white supremacy’
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Rep. Cori Bush accused Republicans of ‘white supremacy’ when she and other left-wing members of the Squad condemned their efforts to remove Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Omar was removed from the committee after losing a largely party-line vote 218 to 211.
But his colleagues on the left offered a fierce defense of their partner, who had been accused of making anti-Semitic comments.
“This institution is better because of his leadership and the foreign affairs committee benefits from his perspective,” he said.
So let’s talk about what’s really going on.
“Republicans are waging a blatantly Islamophobic and racist attack on Congresswoman Omar and I’ve said it before I say it again: the white supremacy that’s happening is unbelievable.”
Cori Bush accused Republicans of ‘white supremacy’ when she and other left-wing members of the Squad condemned their efforts to remove Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Before the vote tally was released, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez condemned the Republican Party for what she said amounted to “racism and incitement to violence against women of color.”
‘Don’t tell me this is about consistency. Don’t tell me this is about a condemnation of anti-Semitic comments… This is about attacking women of color in the United States of America,” the squad member said.
And Rashid Tlaib broke down when he said: ‘Congressman Omar, I am so sorry that our country is failing you on camera today.
You belong to this committee.
He raised his voice to a howl when told that his time had been cut off.
“You belong on this committee,” she half sobbed, half screamed before her microphone was cut off.
Democrats yelled ‘no’ before the GOP completed Chairman Kevin McCarthy’s attempt to remove the Squad member over his record of comments comparing Israel to Hamas and the Taliban and saying the relationship between the Jewish state and the USA is ‘all about the Benjamins’ in 2019.
“She described 9/11 as ‘some people did something,'” McCarthy said, explaining why he wanted her removed from the committee at a news conference after she was kicked out.
McCarthy insisted Omar’s removal was not a ‘tit for tat’, dismissing accusations by Democrats that it is ‘retaliation’ for removing Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar from their assignments.
Before the vote, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez condemned the Republican Party for what she said amounted to “racism and incitement to violence against women of color.”
House Republicans voted Thursday to expel Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee for her anti-Semitic comments in chaotic scenes in Congress.
“She described 9/11 by saying ‘some people did something,'” McCarthy said, explaining why he wanted to remove her from the committee at a news conference after she was kicked out.
Omar told Republicans “I’m an American” and said losing her committee seat for one term would not make her go.
In his press conference before the vote, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries admitted that Omar has used “anti-Semitic tropes” but questioned why Omar was being ousted.
He added that there was “no accountability” for Republicans who posted apparently anti-Semitic tweets.
Jeffries referenced a 2021 tweet posted by Rep. Thomas Massie accusing the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) of “foreign interference in our elections” for running an ad directed at him.
But Massie doesn’t sit on the Foreign Affairs Committee: McCarthy has said Omar would be allowed to sit on other committees, but he represented a “national security concern” on this one.
Rep. Gregory Meeks, DN.Y., suggested that Republicans were being racist by attacking Omar, a Somali Muslim American.
‘Could it be the way it looks?’ he said on the House floor to applause from Democrats.
While Republicans cited their previous negative comments about Israel, several also suggested the move is payback for House Democrats who ousted two hard-line right-wing Republicans from their seats in the last Congress.
Ilhan Omar walks into her office flanked by AOC, Rep. Sara Jacobs (over her left shoulder) and a group of reporters.
“The overwhelming number of members I spoke to don’t feel that, given their past and perhaps current views, he should have a Foreign Affairs position,” said South Dakota Rep. Dusty Johnson.
Omar’s House Foreign Affairs Committee member, Rep. Andy Barr of Kentucky, told DailyMail.com that he has spoken with the congresswoman about the current situation and that she has a “right to free speech,” but not to a seat on the committee.
“The Foreign Affairs committee involves, you know, sensitive intelligence briefings and things like that, and when it comes to our national security and our relationship with Israel, your views influence your ability to serve on that committee. . Barr said.
Barr also noted that Republicans are giving Omar an avenue for “due process” after Indiana GOP Rep. Victoria Spartz agreed to support the resolution Tuesday night if the progressive had an avenue to appeal. the decision before the House Ethics Committee.
“We are providing a process,” Barr said. ‘We are providing an appeal.’
Alluding to Democrats stripping Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of her previous committee assignments for inflammatory social media posts before she joined Congress, she also said: “We’re also not removing people from committees because of statements that have done before.” They were in Congress. These are statements that she has made as a member of Congress.
“And that’s a significant distinction between what Speaker Pelosi did and what Kevin McCarthy did.”
Rep. Tom Cole, who chairs the committee that passed Tuesday night’s resolution to remove Omar from Foreign Affairs, told reporters Wednesday morning that the full House process could begin today.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has vowed retaliation for the removal of Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar from their committees in the last Congress.
“They were warned two years ago: ‘If you do this, there will be consequences.’ You’re not going to, you know, deny our membership committees and kick Kevin McCarthy appointees out of things like the January 6th committee while putting their political counterparts in there and thinking there will be no consequences with majority changes,” he said. Cole.. ‘Now, the chickens are coming home to roost, so to speak.’
He added: “What I hope happens is that each side learns something from this and we don’t go down this path again.”
“But it won’t be a situation where our members are allowed to do that, and now they don’t even acknowledge that what they did was a mistake, that might help,” Cole said.
Along with Greene’s removal for his social media activity repeating QAnon conspiracies and calling for violence against high-profile Democrats, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s 117th Congress also removed the representative. of Arizona Paul Gosar for posting a video of himself attacking progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Florida representative Byron Donalds asked DailyMail.com in disbelief: ‘Are you serious?’ when asked why he thinks Omar should be kicked off the high-profile Foreign Affairs panel.
‘First of all, Congressman Omar, this is the third time that issues have been raised about your anti-Semitic comments. In 2019, a resolution was introduced to the full House, specifically on her, that Nancy Pelosi watered down to say that Congress opposes anti-Semitism,” Donalds said.
‘Well, of course Congress is opposed to anti-Semitism, but there is a member who has had this rhetorical, and frankly philosophical, problem for some time.
‘We have our political problems here in the United States. We all know that. But the fact that Israel is our most important ally in that region has not been a source of disagreement between Republicans and Democrats when it comes to foreign policy, except for one member. So why should that member continue to sit on Foreign Affairs?