Ala. Republicans call for Rep. Omar’s ouster, she fires back over Roy Moore

Photo from JNS/Ilhan Omar for Congress via Facebook.

At the Alabama Republican Party’s retreat in Auburn on Aug. 24, a resolution was approved calling for the removal of Rep. Ilhan Omar from office, leading to a war of words between Omar and former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore.

The resolution, which was approved by voice vote with one vote against, states that the Minnesota representative “has engaged in rhetoric that explicitly runs counter to American values and patriotism.”

Among the instances cited were her “falsely accusing U.S. armed forced of committing war crimes while on mission to liberate her home country of Somalia,” diminishing the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks as “some people did something,” and advocating to a U.S. district judge for sentence leniency for a convicted terrorist and member of the Islamic State.

The resolution also calls out her “disturbing record of using anti-Semitic language that includes alleging Jewish money is used to buy American influence regarding its policy toward Israel,” and that Omar supports “the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign.”

With that, the party “urges its elected congressional delegation to proceed with the expulsion process in accordance to Article 1, Section 5 of the U.S. Constitution to expel Rep. Ilhan Omar from the United States House of Representatives.”

Omar reacted on Twitter to the resolution, pointing out that she received 78 percent of the vote from people in her district, not from the Alabama Republican Party. “If you want to clean up politics, maybe don’t nominate an accused child molester as your Senate candidate?”

Moore, who was removed as Alabama Chief Justice twice, and then was the Republican nominee in a special U.S. Senate election in 2017 and is running for the 2020 Senate nomination, fired back at Omar, saying “President Trump was right: she should go back to Somalia from whence she came.”

During the 2017 election, Moore was accused of decades-old sexual misconduct by several women, including allegations that some of them were underage at the time. He has strenuously denied the allegations, leading accuser Leigh Corfman to file a defamation suit against him, after which Moore filed a defamation suit against her.

In his statement, Moore said “Omar, an avowed Muslim, is a sworn enemy of Israel and has accused our own military of war crimes. While in Congress she has been accused of numerous sexual relationships. I have been married to my wife, Kayla, since Omar was three years old and fought for my Country over 10 years before Omar was even born.”

Scott Simpson, public advocacy director for Muslim Advocates, condemned the Alabama Republicans for “a hateful, dishonest resolution” that is “a troubling escalation of the ongoing effort to vilify American Muslims” and silence them in the public arena.

Rep. Tommy Hanes, who introduced the resolution, told The Hill that “The left wing mob has accused our effort of being bigoted and driven by race. I will not stand by and allow my fellow Republican patriots to be slandered. Rep. Omar’s race and religion are irrelevant. Lady Liberty welcomes those who seek to live the American Dream and assimilate to our freedom loving culture. What is important is her love of country, her loyalty to the United States. Anyone that holds contempt for America ought not serve this great nation as a member of Congress.”

To remove a member of Congress, there would need to be a vote of at least two thirds of House members, so the effort is seen as all but impossible in the Democrat-controlled House.

Proclaiming Justice to the Nations, a Tennessee organization that fights antisemitism, launched a petition drive in February to have Omar removed. According to founder Laurie Cardoza-Moore, over 40,000 signatures have been gathered so far.