The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to table a resolution that would have censured Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) over controversial comments she made about Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk following the 31-year-old conservative activist’s assassination last week.
Fox News reported that Wednesday’s resolution to censure Omar was blocked in a 214 to 213 vote. Reps. Cory Mills (R-Fla.), Jeff Hurd (R-Colo.), Mike Flood (R-Neb.), and Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) joined Democrats in voting against the resolution.
Wednesday’s resolution was brought by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), who claimed that the Minnesota Democrat “mocked the cold-blooded assassination of an innocent American husband and father.” Mace argued that Congress “protected” Omar by voting against censuring her.
In a statement following the vote, McClintock said, “Ilhan Omar’s comments regarding the assassination of Charlie Kirk are vile and contemptible. They deserve the harshest criticism of every man and woman of good will. But this disgusting and hateful speech is still speech and is protected by our First Amendment.”
“Censure is formal punishment by the House and we have already gone too far down this road. Omar’s comments were not made in the House and even if they were, they broke no House rules,” McClintock added. “A free society depends on tolerating ALL speech — even hateful speech — confident that the best way to sort good from evil is to put the two side by side and trust the people to know the difference.”
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Hurd also explained why he voted against censuring Omar in a statement on social media. While he described Omar’s comments in the aftermath of Kirk’s assassination as “ghoulish and evil,” he warned that Mace’s resolution was an attempt to “silence” a member of Congress over free speech, which is “what Charlie Kirk believed and practiced.”
Wednesday’s vote came amid backlash over Omar’s recent interview with Zeteo, a left-wing news outlet. During the interview, Omar claimed that Kirk had “downplayed slavery and what Black people have gone through in this country by saying Juneteenth shouldn’t exist.”
“There are a lot of people who are talking about him [Kirk] just wanting to have a civil debate,” Omar mocked. “These people are full of sh-t and it’s important for us to call them out while we feel anger and sadness.”
The Democrat representative added, “There is nothing more f-cked up than to pretend that his words and actions haven’t been recorded and in existence for the last decade or so.”
In a Monday press release, Mace’s office accused Omar of mocking Americans who are mourning Kirk’s death and claimed that the Democrat lawmaker “demeaned Charlie Kirk, belittled his grieving family, and all but blamed him for his own assassination.”
