Kevin McCarthy, the House Minority Leader defended Rep. Lauren Boebert, because “she apologized” for recent insulting comments about Rep. Ilhan Omar’s religion.
He also admitted that controversies surrounding Boebert and allies like Reps. Paul Gosar and Marjorie Taylor Greene cause “problems.”
“It’s things we would not want to deal with,” McCarthy said, adding that the American people want to focus on stopping inflation, gas prices, and others and that anything that deviates from that causes problems.
Regarding Boebert’s comments about Omar, McCarthy also said that Lauren Boebert, as he called her when it came forward, they talked, she apologized publicly and she apologized personally. “In disagreements and something goes astray, you apologize for it – exactly what Lauren Boebert did,” said McCarthy.
But the Democrats did not agree that Boebert sufficiently apologized to Omar for the allegedly Islamophobic comments. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer D-Md. said about a call between Boebert and Omar that it was not an apology, it was a rationalization.
“Instead of apologizing for her Islamophobic comments and fabricated lies, Rep. Boebert refused to publicly acknowledge her hurtful and dangerous comments. She instead doubled down on her rhetoric and I decided to end the unproductive call,” Omar said.
As for Boebert, House progressives are calling for her to be removed from her committee assignments over the comments. But if Democrats continue to remove GOP members from the Republicans committees as they did with Greene and Gosar, Republicans warn that they will retaliate if they regain the majority in 2022.
“Did anyone on [Democrats’] side of the aisle talk about when Omar said the only reason I support Israel is about the Benjamins? I never got an apology or a phone call,” McCarthy said.