GOP Preps to Boot Ilhan Omar Off Key Committee Because … Revenge, Basically

House Republicans are preparing to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) from the Foreign Affairs Committee, with a vote coming as soon as Wednesday. Why? It could be because they just don’t really like her — for some reason! — or perhaps it’s because they want to get back at Democrats for removing Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) from their committees for suggesting violence against their political opponents.

Republicans say they want Omar off the committee because of her past criticism of Israel. In response to a 2019 tweet from journalist Glenn Greenwald wondering why politicians are so committed to defending Israel, Omar responded, “It’s all about the Benjamins baby.” She later wrote “AIPAC!” in response to a tweet asking her who she thinks is giving politicians money to support Israel, referring to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying group. Omar was accused of antisemitism, prompting her to apologize “unequivocally.”

“When you think about the classified briefings she gets and that the damage that could be caused, I think it’s probably a better place for her to serve on other committees,” McCarthy told Newsmax earlier this week after misrepresenting Omar’s past comments and neglecting to elaborate on exactly what kind of “damage” her place on the committee would cause.

McCarthy has had a little trouble wrangling the votes necessary to banish Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee. He needs a majority of representatives to vote in favor of her dismissal, but Republicans only holding a slim edge in the House, especially with Rep. Greg Steube (R-La.) still absent while recovering from injuries sustained after he fell off his roof last month.

Reps. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) and Ken Buck (R-Colo.) have already said they won’t vote for the resolution. “I think that we should not engage in this tit-for-tat,” Buck recently told Chuck Todd of NBC News. Rep. Victoria Sparks (R-Ind.) had also opposed the measure, but came around after language was added that would allow Omar to appeal. A senior Republican staffer told Axios on Wednesday that the new language “merely references an existing process and in no way begins an appeal procedure or guarantees her committee seat will be reconsidered. It’s non-binding and not actionable.”

A handful of other Republicans are undecided, including Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who said on Monday that he doesn’t agree with the party booting Omar “because they don’t like what she has to say” and don’t agree with her “viewpoint.”

Still, McCarthy and others are confident they will be able exact their revenge. He told Newsmax earlier this week that he’d secure the votes to remove the “dangerous” Omar from the committee, and Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) told Axios on Wednesday that they’d done just that.

Omar gestured to the possible subtext behind the effort to remove her while speaking to CNN on Sunday. “Many of these members don’t believe a Muslim refugee, an African, should even be in Congress, let alone have the opportunity to serve on the Foreign Affairs Committee,” she said.