Gaetz ‘undecided’ about whether to boot Ilhan Omar from Foreign Affairs Committee
Ryan King
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Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) is “undecided” about whether he supports ejecting Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Although the conservative firebrand backed House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) move to block Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Eric Swalwell (D-CA) from serving on the House Intelligence Committee, Gaetz voiced apprehension about following a similar path against Omar without adequate due process.
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“Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell are dangerous to our country. They lied about intelligence. They created a structure of leaks and then embroidered those leaks onto other lies,” Gaetz said on Newsmax. “I view the Schiff and Swalwell matter somewhat differently than I view the Ilhan Omar matter. Ilhan Omar didn’t lie about our intelligence agencies. She didn’t say that Trump was a Russian agent based on information from a particular committee.”
McCarthy and his supporters have argued that Omar should be given the boot for allegedly making antisemitic remarks in the past. For instance, during her first term in the House, she tweeted, “It’s all about the Benjamins baby,” insinuating U.S. support from Israel was motivated by money. She later apologized for that and other controversial statements.
To boot Omar from the panel, the full House must pass a resolution agreeing to it. However, a handful of Republicans, such as Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), have voiced consternation about the move and could scuttle the effort given the slim GOP House majority of 222-213.
“The reason I think a lot of Republicans want to kick Ilhan Omar off of the Foreign Affairs Committees is because they don’t like what she has to say,” Gaetz added. “I’m undecided on that question because the Democrats move the Overton window, and I do believe Speaker McCarthy deserves deference. And so I want to hear him out.”
https://twitter.com/RepMattGaetz/status/1620250243328610305
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Democrats have accused McCarthy of pursuing political revenge over Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) ouster of Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and later Paul Gosar (R-AZ) from committee assignments during the prior Congress. Omar said that the push for her ouster was motivated by the fact that many Republican “members don’t believe a Muslim, a refugee, an African should even be in Congress.”
“It makes me uncomfortable that the case against Ilhan Omar, you know, isn’t being subjected to any due process,” Gaetz continued. “Sometimes, you need to hear things you hate. I mean, go watch Ilhan Omar question Elliott Abrams in the Foreign Affairs Committee about some of the neoconservative policies that were very detrimental in South America,” he added, referring to the Trump administration’s Venezuela envoy.