Omar slams Boebert’s ‘made up’ anti-Muslim story: ‘This buffoon looks down when she sees me at the Capitol’
Ilhan Omar says Lauren Boebert’s story was ‘made up’ and anti-Muslim bigotry is ‘not funny’
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has called out her House of Representatives colleague Lauren Boebert, saying she was a “buffoon” for narrating a “made up” story coloured with anti-Muslim bigotry.
The congresswoman from Minnesota rubbished the incident narrated by Ms Boebert, the representative from Colorado, a video clip of which had gone viral on social media ahead of Thanksgiving.
Ms Boebert was seen in the video talking about an alleged incident in which she was in an elevator at the Capitol building.
“I was getting into an elevator with one of my staffers and he and I, we are leaving the Capitol, we are going back to my office. And I see a Capitol police officer running hurriedly to the elevator. I see fret all over his face. And he’s reaching as the door is shutting. I can’t open it. What’s happening? I look to my left and there she is. Ilhan Omar. And I say ‘well she doesn’t have a backpack. We should be fine’,” Ms Boebert can be heard saying in the video.
“So we only had one floor to go... so I said ‘Oh look, the Jihad squad decided to show up for work today’,” she continued saying, as the crowd cheered.
“It’s just her staffers on Twitter that talk for her. She’s not tough in person,” she added.
Ms Omar, quote tweeting the video on Thursday, rubbished the allegations. “Fact, this buffoon looks down when she sees me at the Capitol, this whole story is made up. Sad she thinks bigotry gets her clout,” she said.
Ms Omar also slammed the Islamophobic remarks made by the far-right, gun-rights activist: “Anti-Muslim bigotry isn’t funny and shouldn’t be normalised. Congress can’t be a place where hateful and dangerous Muslims tropes get no condemnation.”
Ms Boebert has been called the “QAnon Congresswoman” for saying she hopes the baseless conspiracy theory — that alleges that a demonic global paedophile ring is at the centre of the actions of a majority of Democrat politicians and senior government officials — was true.
Calls for her resignation grew in January after she tweeted details about speaker Nancy Pelosi during the Capitol riots on 6 January.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments