On Friday, November 26, Minnesota Democratic House Representative Ilhan Omar called for house leaders in both aisles to take action against Colorado Republican House Representative Lauren Boebert. Over the holidays, Rep. Boebert made incendiary statements where she likened Rep. Omar to a suicide bomber.
On Tuesday, November 30, Omar played a recording of a death threat left on her voicemail during a news conference. She also implored House Republican leaders to address the anti-muslim sentiments held in their ranks.
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) plays a horrific death threat she received following Rep. Lauren Boebert’s (R-CO) recent Islamophobic attacks on her.
Warning: It's incredibly graphic. pic.twitter.com/5PGODcaJOu— The Recount (@therecount) November 30, 2021
After playing the recording, Omar read a transcript of the voicemail. “For those of you who did not hear it very well, let me read [it for] you.” The thread called Omar a “sand ni****bitch,” while threatening that she would not live long. “We know what you are up to; you are all about taking over our country,” the threat claimed. “You are jihadist, you are f****** traitor, and you will not live any longer.”
According to Omar, she started receiving more death threats after a failed phone conversation with Boebert. She decided to hang up on her because “instead of apologizing… she doubled down on her rhetoric.”
“When a sitting member of Congress calls a colleague a member of the ‘jihad squad’ and falsifies a story to suggest I will blow up the Capitol, it is not just an attack on me but millions of American Muslims across the country,” Omar said. “We cannot pretend this hate speech from leading politicians doesn’t have real consequences,” she added.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi and other top democrats quickly dismissed Boebert’s incendiary statements. Pelosi urged her to retract her comments and “refrain from making similar ones going forward.” Pelosi also demanded that the Republican leaders in both congress and senate “address this priority with the Congresswoman and to finally take real action to confront racism.”
A video published on Twitter by PatriotTakes describes themselves as “an organization built to take on and expose the far-right disinformation machine.” The video started with Boebert saying it was not her “first Jihad Squad moment.” The Republican representative was describing her encounter with Omar.
Over the Thanksgiving break, Lauren Boebert said she was recently in a Capitol elevator with Ilhan Omar when a fretful Capitol police officer ran up.
Lauren Boebert said: “Well, she doesn’t have a backpack. We should be fine.”
Boebert then called Ilhan Omar, “jihad squad.” pic.twitter.com/Y7f0nFbnud— PatriotTakes (@patriottakes) November 25, 2021
In the video, Boebert said she and a staffer were getting in an elevator when a Capitol police officer rushed to keep the elevator doors open. “I look to my left, and there she is,” Boebert said, referring to Omar entering the elevator. “Well, she doesn’t have a backpack; this should be fine,” Boebert said, insinuating that Omar is a suicide bomber.
“Oh look, the Jihad Squad decided to show up for work today,” Boebert added. The video has been viewed more than 5.8 million times since it was posted on November 26.
So far, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, Republican Minority Leader, has not taken any measures to address Boebert’s irresponsible statements. When asked about the possibility of Democrats censuring Boebert, McCarthy took her side. “After she apologized personally and publicly? I’d vote against it,” McCarthy said.
