Ilhan Omar defiant as Republicans oust her from key House committee

Republicans voted to expel Minnesota Democrat Ilhan Omar from the House foreign affairs committee on Thursday as punishment for her past remarks on Israel. Democrats objected, saying the move was about revenge after Democrats removed far-right extremists in the last Congress.

Omar struck a defiant note in a speech shortly before the votes were counted, accusing Republicans of trying to silence her because she is a Muslim immigrant, and promising to continue speaking out.

On Wednesday, the chamber voted on party lines to move forward with the resolution, which explicitly condemns comments Omar made about Israel that drew accusations by Republicans and some Democrats of antisemitism.

Omar has apologized and said she has come to understand her remarks played on antisemitic tropes.

The lawmaker, who in 2018 became one of the first Muslim women elected to Congress, routinely faces violent threats and bigotry, including from other lawmakers.

Republican leaders have for weeks worked to assuage concerns among some party members that ousting Omar was no more than an act of retribution for Democrats removing Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Paul Gosar of Arizona from committees in the last Congress.

Party leaders had previously removed members of their own party from committees. McCarthy did so in 2019, when the then Iowa congressman Steve King questioned why white supremacy was considered offensive. But McCarthy refused to take action against Greene or Gosar, which Democrats say forced them to take the then-unprecedented action of using their majority to remove members of the opposite party from committees.

Under McCarthy, both have returned to committees.

Associated Press contributed to reporting