The House is expected to vote on whether or not to censure Rep. Ilhan Omar for her alleged ‘Somali first’ remarks.
The privileged resolution was pushed to the House floor by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and will come up for a vote either Monday or Tuesday.
If the resolution passes, the Minnesota Democrat would be the fourth member of Congress to be censured this term, following Democratic Reps. Jamaal Bowman, N.Y., Rashida Tlaib, Mich., and Adam Schiff, Calif.
According to one translation of a now-viral clip of remarks Omar made in Somalian, she said her allegiances lie with Somalia over the U.S.
‘We are an organized society, brothers and sisters, people of the same blood, people who know they are Somalis first, Muslims second, who protect one another,’ Omar allegedly said.
‘I urge my colleagues to vote to censure, but I wish I had the votes to expel and deport her,’ Greene wrote on X.
Last week Whip Tom Emmer asked the Ethics Committee to investigate Omar over the remarks, DailyMail.com exclusively reported.
Omar claims that translation is not accurate and that ‘propagandists’ are twisting her words.
The clip was first shared by Somaliland Ambassador Rhoda Elmi, who called them ‘unbecoming’ and ‘lacking in common decency.’
Somaliland is an unrecognized state that Somalia views as its own territory.
Omar, the first Somali-American in Congress, said in the clip she would do everything in her power to prevent the disputed, breakaway territory from entering a sea-access deal with Ethiopia.
‘Sleep in comfort knowing I am here to protect the interest of Somalia from inside the U.S. system,’ Omar said, according to the widely-shared, translated version of the video.
Omar reportedly said in her speech that ‘the U.S. government will only do what Somalians in the U.S. tell them to do. They will do what we want and nothing else.’
‘They must follow our orders and that is how we will safeguard the interest of Somalia,’ she adds. ‘We Somalians must have the confidence in ourselves that we call the shots in the U.S.’
‘Together we will protect the interests of Somalia,’ she added.
‘It’s not only slanted but completely off,’ Omar said of the subtitles in the clip the Somaliland ambassador shared. ‘But I wouldn’t expect more from these propagandists.’
‘The translation in the clip is accurate, with the addition of a words added for clarity and historical context,’ Elmi told DailyMail.com in response to Omar’s criticisms.
In a translation Omar claims to be more accurate, she says she told her Somali constituents who were worried about the Somaliland-Ethiopia deal:
‘The U.S. government will do what we ask it to do. We should have this confidence in ourselves as Somalis. We live in this country. We are taxpayers in this country. This country is one where one of your daughters sits in Congress.’
‘While I am in Congress, no one will take Somalia’s sea.’
‘The United States will not back others to rob us. So, do not lose sleep over that, O Minnesotans. The lady you sent to Congress is on this, and she is as cognizant of this interest as you are,’ Omar went on according to her preferred translation.
‘Somalia belongs to all Somalis. Somalia is one. We are brothers and sisters, and our land will not be balkanized. Our lands were taken from us before, and God willing, we may one day seek them.’
Omar has railed against U.S. lawmakers’ so-called allegiance to a foreign country before.
‘I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is OK for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country,’ the congresswoman said in 2019, suggesting pro-Israel groups were demanding fea flty from U.S. lawmakers.
In a post on X, she said of U.S. lawmakers’ staunch support for Israel: ‘It’s all about the Benjamins baby.’
By Morgan Phillips, Congress Reporter For Dailymail.Com
