DENVER — Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert (R) has tweeted a public apology one day after video showed her suggesting her colleague from Minnesota, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D), is a terrorist.
In the video posted by the Twitter account "PatriotTakes," Boebert shared a story about seeing Omar, who is Muslim and wears a hijab, on an elevator in the U.S. 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. And I’m like the door is shutting, I can’t open it, what’s happening?" Boebert said. "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."
The crowd at the event is heard laughing and cheering after Boebert speaks.
The Republican congresswoman is also heard saying in the video that Omar is part of "jihad squad," just a week after using the same rhetoric on the House floor.
"I apologize to anyone in the Muslim community I offended with my comment about Rep. Omar," Boebert shared on Friday. "I have reached out to her office to speak with her directly. There are plenty of policy differences to focus on without this unnecessary distraction."
The video comes from a site associated with the Meidas Touch PAC, which claims it was filmed in the Thanksgiving recess.
Thursday night, after it went public, Omar challenged Boebert's story, saying the elevator incident never happened.
"Fact, this buffoon looks down when she sees me at the Capitol, this whole story is made up," Omar tweeted. "Sad she thinks bigotry gets her clout. Anti-Muslim bigotry isn’t funny & shouldn’t be normalized. Congress can’t be a place where hateful and dangerous Muslims tropes get no condemnation."
Omar has since also demanded that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and GOP House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy take action against Boebert.
"Saying I am a suicide bomber is no laughing matter. @GOPLeader and @SpeakerPelosi need to take appropriate action, normalizing this bigotry not only endangers my life but the lives of all Muslims. Anti-Muslim bigotry has no place in Congress," Omar tweeted.
State Rep. Iman Jodeh (D), Colorado's first Muslim lawmaker whose parents are Palestinian immigrants, told 9NEWS that she does not think Boebert's apology does enough.
"Unfortunately, I don’t think her apology goes far enough. And I think she really needs to make an effort to reach out her Muslim community in her district, and I think if she does that, she’ll have a better understanding of Muslims – of our way of life, and again, to understand that her constituents are not a monolith and representing a diverse district, that has different viewpoints and can really bring a different voice to the table, is what will make her an effective representative," Jodeh said.
"As Muslims, this isn’t just a religion for us. It is, in fact, a way of life, and so when comments like this are made, it increases that threat level for us. It increases that danger in our own communities because it perpetuates those stereotypes."
Commentary: We hold Congresswoman Boebert to a different standard than other Colorado politicians
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