Last Thursday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) made a move to oust Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. This decision has been a highly controversial one, and many of Omar’s colleagues, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) have been speaking out against it. But Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) has accused AOC of “fake tears” during her emotional speech.
During an interview with a Washington, D.C. radio program, Donalds said that AOC was “in rare form yesterday” and that her speech was full of “drama.” He then compared her speech to her previous interactions with Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) who had allegedly threatened her life. Donalds pointed out that AOC had a “full-throated conversation” with Gosar a month ago, which he believes is hypocritical of her to now be asking for an apology for death threats.
Donalds then continued to call out Democrats for not censuring Omar when they had two opportunities to do so in the House. He believes that it was the Democrats’ responsibility to take care of their own, and that the Republicans had to “take care of it for them” by voting Omar off the committee.
ON FRIDAY ON @WMALDC: Rep. @ByronDonalds on the Ilhan Omar drama on the House floor this week:
"Who I really want to respond to is @AOC b/c she was in rare form yesterday. She was saying how there was a member of the House who threatened her life.” 1/3 https://t.co/hIqDbywnxC— WMAL DC (@WMALDC) February 4, 2023
AOC’s response to Donalds’ comments has not yet been released, however many people are questioning the validity of Donald’s accusations. It is unclear if Donalds has any evidence of AOC’s “fake tears” or if he is simply attacking her to make himself look better in the eyes of the public.
Watch
Wow AOC doesn’t hold back here pic.twitter.com/GxHNtaKkaJ
— Acyn (@Acyn) February 2, 2023
Did he lie? Absolutely not. Here is AOC talking to her alleged would-be attacker. She looks terrified, doesn’t she?
They don't always discuss politics#aoc #118thCongress pic.twitter.com/XkXHGf0C5s
— Bad Lip Reading (@BadLipReading) January 5, 2023
It is clear that the decision to remove Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee has caused a lot of tension in the House. It will be interesting to see how AOC and Donalds’ ongoing feud will play out in the coming weeks and months.
