Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) gave a fiery speech ahead of a House vote last week to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) from the House Foreign Affairs Committee over past anti-Semitic and anti-American remarks.
The New York congresswoman instead asserted the call to remove Omar was an “attack on women of color.”
“There is nothing consistent with the Republican Party’s continued attack, except for the racism and incitement of violence against women of color in this body. I had a member of the Republican caucus threaten my life and you all — and the Republican caucus — rewarded him with one of the most prestigious committee assignments in this Congress,” she said, referring to Arizona Republican Rep. Paul Gosar.
“Don’t tell me this is about consistency, don’t tell me that this is about a condemnation of anti-Semitic remarks when you have a member of the Republican caucus who has talked about Jewish space lasers and an entire amount of tropes, and also elevated her to some of the highest committee assignments in this body,” Ocasio-Cortez continued.
“This is about targeting women of color in the United States of America. Don’t tell me, because I didn’t get a single apology when my life was threatened,” she concluded.
Omar was officially voted off of the committee in a 218 to 211 vote along party lines.
The congresswoman sought to clear her name in a recent interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
READ MORE: GOP officially kicks Ilhan Omar off Foreign Affairs Cmte.
“I certainly did not or was not aware that the word ‘hypnotized’ was a trope. I wasn’t aware of the fact that there are tropes about Jews and money. That has been [a] very enlightening part of this journey,” Omar said. “To insinuate that I knowingly said these things when people have read into my comments to make it sound as if I have something against the Jewish community is so wrong.”
Ocasio-Cortez was not the only Democrat to come to Omar’s support. Fellow “Squad” member Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) shed tears during her emotional House floor speech over the plans to remove Omar, referring to the move as hypocrisy and blaming the move on racism among Republicans.
In addition to Omar’s committee removal, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) removed Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Eric Swalwell (D-CA) from the House Intelligence Committee.
