Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) is facing a new round of scrutiny after narrowly escaping a censure vote this week. The move to table censure, backed by all Democrats and four Republicans, has now been followed by one of those Republicans initiating a formal Ethics Committee complaint.
House Main Street Caucus Chairman Rep. Mike Flood (R-NE), who voted to table Rep. Nancy Mace’s censure motion, said he did so only to allow an official ethics review first.
“I will be filing tomorrow … a complaint with the Committee on Ethics in the House of Representatives with 18 very concerning incidents and/or behaviors and/or statements that, on their face, reflect poorly on the House of Representatives,” Flood said.
Flood emphasized that the complaint will focus heavily on Omar’s “obnoxious, insulting and dismissive comments following the assassination of Charlie Kirk,” while also raising issues such as her use of TikTok and prior conduct at immigration events.
“Ilhan Omar’s statements and social media posts are reprehensible and should be referred to the Ethics Committee. The appropriate time to consider a censure motion would be after ethics reviews her conduct,” Flood explained.“Have you demonstrated that you are behaving at all times in a manner that reflects credibly on the House?”
The Nebraska Republican noted he took the same approach in a previous censure case involving Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ), insisting that waiting for an ethics review “makes a censure far more credible.”
The uproar began after Omar’s remarks on conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Instead of offering condolences, she ridiculed conservatives for mourning and attacked President Trump for blaming the assassin’s ideology.
As Legal Insurrection previously reported, Omar said in an interview with left-wing commentator and former MSNBC anchor Mehdi Hasan:
“Charlie was someone who was willing to debate and downplay the death of George Floyd in the hands of Minneapolis police… have no regard, downplay slavery and what black people have gone through in this country by saying Juneteenth should never exist,” Omar said.“There is nothing more effed up than to completely pretend that his words and actions have not been recorded and in existence for the last decade or so… And so, these people are full of sh*t and it’s important for us to call them out.”
Her comments ignited outrage. Omar later posted a defensive statement on X, claiming her critics took her words out of context:
Later, however, video surfaced from a separate event, Omar doubled down even more bluntly:
With Flood’s referral, the fight over Omar’s rhetoric now moves from floor votes to a formal investigation. Instead of offering grace after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, she mocked, insulted, and belittled his memory. Members of Congress are expected to uphold the dignity of their office, not revel in inflammatory soundbites. The Ethics Committee will now weigh whether Omar’s behavior crossed the line from partisan rhetoric into a fundamental breach of responsibility.
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