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Lauren Boebert Apologizes for Ilhan Omar 'Backpack' Joke and QAnon Rep Is Not OK With It

Lauren Boebert Apologizes for Ilhan Omar 'Backpack' Joke and QAnon Rep Is Not OK With It
OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images // Peter Zay/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images // Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

A House GOP member has fired yet another salvo in its onslaught of reprehensible rhetoric against Democratic members. This time, the remark came from far-right Congresswoman Lauren Boebert of Colorado, who likened Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota—one of the first Muslim women ever elected to Congress—to a suicide bomber.

Boebert made the remark in comments to constituents, once again referring to Omar as a member of the "Jihad Squad" just days after berating her on the House floor.

Watch below.

Boebert said:

"I was getting into an elevator with one of my staffers and he and I were leaving the Capitol, we're going back to my office and we get in the elevator and I see a Capitol Police officer running hurriedly to the elevator. I see fret all over his face. And he's reaching. 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 said, 'Well she doesn't have a backpack, we should be fine.'"

She continued to brag about belittling Omar while the two were supposedly trapped in an elevator:

"So we only had one floor to go and I say, do I say it or do I not? And I look over and I say, 'Look, the jihad squad decided to show up for work today.' Don't worry, it's just her staffers on Twitter that talk for her. She's not tough in person."

Americans across the country decried Boebert's comments, including Omar herself, who said the exchange in the elevator never happened and called on Congressional leadership to reprimand Boebert.


Just earlier this month, Congress voted to strip GOP Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona of his committee assignments for posting an edited cartoon of him killing Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. Earlier this year, House members did the same for far-right Congresswoman and prominent conspiracy theorist Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, after Facebook interactions before her election exposed her support for the execution of her colleagues.

Boebert soon issued a widely-panned public apology—not to Omar, but to those she offended—for the remarks.

While most of her critics were Democrats, Congresswoman Greene also spoke against the apology, saying it wasn't necessary in the first place.

In a lengthy follow-up thread, Greene then proceeded to call Omar a terrorist sympathizer and repeated the baseless claim that she married her brother.

Greene's vicarious double-down on Boebert's remarks generated further outrage.





Some deemed Greene's tweet to be yet another violation of Twitter's terms of service, and called on her to be barred from the site.




In a joint statement, House Democratic leadership condemned Boebert's remarks and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's "repeated failure to condemn inflammatory and bigoted rhetoric." It's unclear if further action will be taken.