Ilhan Omar responds to Kevin McCarthy's vow to remove her from House committees

[THEME MUSIC] CATHY WURZER: And our top story, Minnesota Democratic Congressional Representative Ilhan Omar is pushing back on threats to remove her from key committee assignments. Speaking on Fox News on Sunday, House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy threatened to make the move over what he called "anti-Semitic comments."

Omar, in a statement, says she's being singled out, that McCarthy's comments were an example of quote "fear, xenophobia, Islamophobia, and racism." Omar is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Education and Labor Committee.

Now for some background, it would not be the first time a House member has been removed from their committee assignments over controversial statements. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene was stripped of her assignments in February of 2021.

Here to help us make sense of the situation is Amy Koch. She's a political strategist, former Minnesota Senate Republican Majority Leader, and co-host of the podcast Wrong About Everything. Senator, welcome back to the program.

AMY KOCH: Oh, Cathy. Hi, how are you?

CATHY WURZER: Hi, I'm fine. Likewise, thank you so much. Say, the House removed, as I mentioned, representative Taylor Greene from her committee assignments last year after this uproar over some of her anti-Semitic comments and pushing conspiracy theories.

Is this a matter of political tit for tat with Ilhan Omar, or something else? I mean, what's the motivation?

AMY KOCH: So typically in leadership, any kind of committee assignment is handled by the caucus leadership of the person's party. That's just sort of a courtesy that's afforded to the minority, that they get to choose their membership and which committees that they will serve on.

Because the majority and minority flips, and as we can see, something like this year, it is a dangerous precedent to set that you start removing members of the other party.

Typically, if you had a problem with someone, you might work with the other Minority Leader to have them removed or reassigned. That didn't happen with Marjorie Taylor Greene, and I'm not here to defend her or her removal.

But that move-- and at the time, Nancy Pelosi was asked if it set a precedent, and she said no-- but it hadn't happened before, so it did set a precedent.

I do think there are some key differences, however, in these removals. And it's not just Representative-- or Congresswoman Omar that is being removed, potentially. Kevin McCarthy has singled out-- he has three different members that he's looking to remove from various positions.

It's not all the committees, it's the Foreign Affairs Committee. And it's based on multiple remarks, some that she's made as recently as 2021, about Israel in particular. She talked about atrocities committed by Israel.

And Israel is a key ally for the United States, and she serves on the Foreign Affairs Committee, which is the committee he's proposing to remove her from.

So I do think that this is a bit different than removing Marjorie Taylor Greene for comments that she was-- that, frankly, I did also didn't agree with. But she served on Education and Labor, or something. This has a much more direct correlation to comments that Congresswoman Omar has made.

CATHY WURZER: There's already so much rancor and discord. I mean, Republicans are going to hold a slim majority in the House, which would pose, I would think, some challenges for GOP leaders and complicate the party's ability to govern. Is this kind of move really needed before next session?

AMY KOCH: It's not a great move. I wish that it wasn't happening. I'd rather have the new Speaker work with the incoming-- whoever is going to take over for Speaker Pelosi on these assignments.

He has three concerns. He has-- is it Swalwell, I think, on Intelligence, along with Schiff, and then Omar at Foreign Affairs. And there's some particular concerns with Swalwell and his ties to a Chinese national, and he's on the Intelligence Committee.

So I just think that this is something that shouldn't be partisan. It shouldn't create rancor. It should be a conversation amongst leaders on those specific committee assignments.

I'd much rather see that. I don't know why that can't seem to happen anymore. I think there's legitimate concerns here, but this is a conversation that should happen behind the scenes and not a shootout between members on the hill, and CNN, and across media outlets. It becomes--

CATHY WURZER: Cynics, of course--

AMY KOCH: --very political when you do that.

CATHY WURZER: Cynics might say that this kind of move is all about fundraising, that McCarthy attacking Omar is doing it to rile folks up, get people motivated to donate money.

The opposite, too. Omar's pushing back helps her raise money. I mean, can you see some truth in that?

AMY KOCH: Well, it is still politics, Cathy. Certainly--

CATHY WURZER: Right.

AMY KOCH: --the removal of Marjorie Taylor Greene was also the same thing. People are-- particularly people that are kind of a lightning rod for the other side, I mean, there's no denying that there's a fundraising component to that, or a promise.

This is a promise that Kevin McCarthy made months ago, and he's keeping to that. Again, these aren't-- I think that there are real issues here, and it's frustrating to watch sort of a political take on something that shouldn't, in my mind, be political.

I think there's legitimate things to discuss and concerns, but definitely both sides, just this continued ramping up of politics in DC.

CATHY WURZER: I wish I had more time with you. Yeah, for a lot of people. Thank you for your time. I appreciate it. Good to talk with you again.

AMY KOCH: Yeah, thanks for having me on, Cathy. Talk to you soon.

CATHY WURZER: Likewise, thank you. Amy Koch, of course, political strategist, former Minnesota Senate Republican Majority Leader, and the co-host of the podcast Wrong About Everything.