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. … 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, health care, or solve the climate crisis.

She had plenty more to say:

Full statement on Kevin McCarthy threat: pic.twitter.com/IAOP27ujlt

— Rep. Ilhan Omar (@Ilhan) November 21, 2022

McCarthy faces a January 3 vote for the position of House Speaker once the new congress is seated and Republicans take the majority. McCarthy’s desire to remove her from the committee is a result of her “repeated antisemitic and anti-American remarks,” he said.

Instead of taking responsibility for those comments and tweets, Omar claims McCarthy’s pledge is nothing more than “hate against Somali-Americans”:

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 his party has been trying to ban since Donald Trump first ran for office.

No, it’s because of your history of making hateful verbal attacks. As my colleague Mike Miller reported Sunday, Omar has said that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee was “all about the Benjamins” and has fired off a tweet that seemed to equate the U.S. with the Taliban. Recall also, as streiff reported at the time, that in 2019 “…she dismissed the 9/11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people as ‘some people did something.’” Her latest statement’s attempt to turn the tables is an impressive inversion of history.

McCarthy promised on Fox News Sunday Morning Futures that he would also give the boot to Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Eric Swalwell (D-CA) from the Intelligence Committee, citing the former’s endless promotion of Russian collusion and the latter’s dalliance with a Chinese spy.

Kevin McCarthy says on Fox that he plans on removing Ilhan Omar, Eric Swalwell, and Adam Schiff from their committee assignments as the next Speaker. pic.twitter.com/i6gCmdz1BV

— PoliticsVerse 🇺🇸 (@PoliticsVerse) November 20, 2022

McCarthy hysterically mocks Swalwell in the above clip:

One thing I said from the very beginning, Eric Swalwell cannot get a security clearance in the public sector. Why would we ever give him a security clearance and the secrets to America? So, I will not allow him to be on Intel.

Swalwell hasn’t said much in response, but his office issued a schoolyard retort, with his spokeswoman telling Fox News Digital: “Please circle back if Kevin McCarthy becomes speaker,” implying that McCarthy will not get enough votes for the position.

McCarthy goes on to tell the truth about Adam Schiff, which is that the wide-eyed representative has a long history of spouting falsehoods:

You have Adam Schiff who had lied to the American public time and again. We will not allow him to be on the Intel Committee either.

Omar’s hysteria over McCarthy’s desire to pull her committee assignment is all the more hypocritical in that the Democrats started this gamesmanship with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s refusal to allow Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) on the Jan. 6 Committee. Taking it a step further, in February the Dems removed Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) from three committee assignments over her controversial comments (some of which she had retracted and apologized for publicly).

Both these moves defied precedent; congressional custom is for the leaders of each party to pick who receives coveted committee spots.

Democrats broke that tradition, and now they have to face the music. This isn’t about racism or a sustained campaign against Somali Americans, it’s about payback. Revenge is a dish best served cold—or at least with the revocation of a committee assignment or two.