It is the second time this month that a GOP lawmaker has faced backlash for making offensive comments. Gosar was censured and stripped of his committees after he posted a video depicting the killing of a lawmaker.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her leadership team demanded that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy be the one to act against the Coloradan. In her own statement on Monday afternoon, she echoed that sentiment.
"This is about a party that has mainstreamed bigotry and hatred, and it is not about one politician or statement," she wrote in a statement after her call with Boebert. It is time for McCarthy to hold his party accountable.
A request for comment was not responded to by a McCarthy spokesman.
Boebert said in her video that she asked the woman to make a public apology for her anti-American, anti-Semitic, anti- police rhetoric. She has criticized the Israeli government in her advocacy for Palestinian rights, running afoul of some in her own party in the past, and supported police reform efforts following the killings of men and women of color. After the two went back and forth, the call ended.
McCarthy has faced a number of controversies over his divisive rhetoric within his ranks. The House Republicans would rather focus on their political advantages over Democrats and the Biden administration than worry about their own divisive moments.
It is not clear what the Democratic leaders will do to address Boebert's comments. Senior Democrats said that Pelosi and her leadership team won't meet until late Tuesday when the House returns.
Several Democrats privately said they don't want to be lured into a trap by Republicans, forced to police every objectionable statement made by GOP lawmakers when McCarthy and other party leaders won't do anything to rein in their own.
The situation with Boebert is different from Gosar, who posted a video of himself killing his colleague and then refused to apologize.
GOP leaders have a responsibility to address Boebert's pattern of "Islamophobic hate speech", according to the office of the Minnesota Democrat. Boebert has made up statements about the woman being an advocate for state-sponsored terrorism, and declaring her an honorary member of Hamas.
This is not the first time that Boebert has described the man as part of the Jihad squad. She used the term at a campaign event.
