Bowman urges GOP leaders to strip Boebert of committee assignments

Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), a member of the progressive "squad" of Democratic lawmakers, urged GOP leadership on Wednesday to strip Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) of her committee assignments due to her Islamophobic comments about Rep. Ilham Omar (D-Minn.).

"The fact is that Congresswoman Omar is a Black, immigrant and visibly Muslim woman with power-and this is too much to handle for people who refuse to live in a society that celebrates diversity and abhors white supremacy. The question that we as leaders are called to answer is whether we will tolerate this kind of vile behavior and learn from history in order to protect our future," Bowman said in a statement.

"I'm urging House leadership to hold Lauren Boebert accountable by removing her from her committee assignments, advancing a resolution of condemnation, and taking all other appropriate measures to ensure our message that Islamophobia, anti-Blackness, and xenophobia will not stand is loud and clear," Brown added.

Boebert in multiple videos has been seen mocking Omar, one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, as a terrorist.

Boebert in two of the videos tells a story, which Omar has said is false, about being in an elevator with Omar but feeling fine because the Minnesota lawmaker was not wearing a backpack - which in Boebert's "joke" could be used to carry explosives.

"It was just the three of us in there, and I looked over, and I said, 'Well, looky there, it's the jihad squad,'" Boebert said in one video.

"She doesn't have a backpack. She wasn't dropping it and running, so we're good," she added.

Democrats have blasted the remarks, as have a handful of Republicans. But Democratic leaders do not appear ready to take the step of censuring Boebert, and it appears unlikely GOP leaders will take away her committee assignments.