Dem Predicts Omar Has Enough Votes to Stay on Foreign Affairs Committee

A member of the House Democratic leadership predicted Wednesday that Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., would remain on the House Foreign Affairs Committee through "bipartisan" support — despite the public pledge from House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to jettison Omar from that particular committee.

"It would take a vote and a resolution [to remove Omar], and the Democratic Caucus stands with Rep. Omar that she should serve on this committee," said House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, D-Calif.

"And we'll see how Republicans want to handle this," said Aguilar, while adding that Omar "has the background, and breadth, and experience to serve on this committee; and she should be able to. And clearly it's going to be — based on the letter I read — it's going to be a bipartisan vote to keep her on the committee."

During a Tuesday press conference, McCarthy publicly questioned the "integrity" of Democrat Reps. Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell of California and defended his decision to remove them from the revamped House Intelligence Committee.

He also announced that Omar wouldn't serve on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

McCarthy indicated his concerns with Schiff and Swalwell revolve around supposed Intelligence Committee leaks and an alleged intimate relationship with a Chinese "spy."

McCarthy has said Omar's "repeated antisemitic and anti-American remarks" are why he wants to remove her from the Foreign Affairs Committee. In 2019, the Somalia-born Omar referred to 9/11 as an incident in which "some people did something."

Among House Republicans, reportedly only Reps. Victoria Spartz of Indiana and Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina have voiced their opposition to removing Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

According to FOX News, Aguilar said there were bipartisan votes in Congress two years ago when Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Paul Gosar of Arizona were booted from their House committee assignments at the hands of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

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