Republicans Call for Ilhan Omar to ‘Resign in Disgrace’ over Viral Speech

Minnesota “squad” member Rep. Ilhan Omar (D) is facing fierce backlash and accusations of threatening to “make the U.S. bow to Somali interests,” with Republicans and others calling for her ousting after a viral clip reportedly (and apparently inaccurately) showed her telling Somali Americans that her first priority in office is not America, but Somalia. 

UPDATE: Rep. Omar has challenged the accuracy of a translation of her remarks that were widely circulated in the media and featured in this article. Somali translators have also noted some errors in the initial translation. We have updated this article to remove several of those references. The Minnesota Reformer offers a translation of her remarks here.

According to the (faulty) translation, the pro-Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Omar describes herself as “Somalian first” and “Muslim second,” saying that “the U.S. government will only do what Somalians in the U.S. tell them to do.” 

Widecsale outrage ensued after her remarks went viral.

For example, Somaliland’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Rhoda J Elmi slammed Omar for her use of “ethno-racist rhetoric” and “her endeavors to revive the once-violent and dangerous ideology of Greater Somalia or Somali Weyn, which caused so much death, destruction and conflict in the Horn of Africa.”
She also called on the House leadership and her caucus to “take note of her public conduct, unbecoming a United States congresswoman nor representative of the August House she serves in.”

In response to the backlash, Omar claimed her words were misinterpreted while accusing her critics of “harassment and lies.”

Omar has a history of controversy, having been accused repeatedly of being antisemitic and anti-American, including in past statements accusing Israel of being an “apartheid regime” that has “hypnotized the world” and claiming pro-Israel stances of politicians are “all about the Benjamins.”

She has also referred to the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, as a day in which “some people did something.”

In February 2023, then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) reiterated why Omar is “unfit” to represent the U.S. on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA) also blasted the congresswoman after she equated the United States and Israel to Hamas terrorists and the Taliban.

“Omar is an antisemite who hates America and hates American troops,” he said. “She has no place serving in Congress.”

In 2019, then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) defended Omar, telling reporters that while Omar had made several anti-Jewish remarks, she had not been “intentionally antisemitic.”

In 2023, the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) accused Omar of hating America “as much as Israel.”