Ilhan Omar Blames Kevin McCarthy for Death Threats, ‘Constant Stream of Hate’ After Pledge to Remove Her From House Committees

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) accused House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) of fomenting violence against her with his promise to force her out of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Omar’s office released a statement on Monday in response to McCarthy’s pledge to strip the congresswoman of her committee seat. In it, she accuses him of ginning up various forms of racial and religious bigotry against her while ignoring the conduct of his fellow Republicans.

From the statement:

From the moment I was elected, the Republican Party has made it their mission to use fear, xenophobia, Islamophobia and racism to target me on the House Floor and through millions of dollars of campaign ads.

Whether it is Marjorie Taylor Greene holding a gun next to my head in campaign ads or Donald Trump threatening to ‘send me back’ to my country (despite the fact that I have been a proud citizen of the United States for more than 20 years), this constant stream of hate has led to hundreds of death threats and credible plots against me and my family…

McCarthy’s effort to repeatedly single me out for scorn and hatred—including threatening to strip me from my committee—does nothing to address the issues our constituents deal with. It does nothing to address inflation, healthcare, or solve the climate crisis.

What it does is gin up fear and hate against Somali-Americans and anyone who shares my identity, and further divide us along racial and ethnic lines. It is a continuation of a sustained campaign against Muslim and African voices, people in his party have been trying to ban since Donald Trump first ran for office.

Omar was responding to the interview McCarthy gave to Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo on Sunday Morning Futures. McCarthy was speaking about what he intends to do if he becomes Speaker of the House with the Republican Party’s new slim majority, and he said he would keep his promise to take Omar off of her committee assignments over “anti-Semitic” past criticisms of Israel.

McCarthy also threatened to strip the committee assignments of Democratic Congressmen Eric Swalwell and Adam Schiff, even as he states that he will reinstate Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). Swalwell offered his own retort to McCarthy on Twitter.