Rep. Ilhan Omar's ouster from House committee not 'breaking,' happened in 2023 | Fact check

BrieAnna J. Frank, USA TODAY
·2 min read
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The claim: Post implies Ilhan Omar was removed from House Foreign Affairs Committee in 2024

A Feb. 13 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) suggests a U.S. representative's removal from a House committee was a new development.

“BREAKING: Rep. Ilhan Omar has been REMOVED from the Foreign Affairs Committee,” reads the post, which is a screenshot of a post on X, formerly Twitter. “Do you support this decision?”

Comments on the post show some social media users appeared to believe Omar's removal happened recently.

"About time! Yes!" wrote one.

"Solid 1st step!!" wrote another.

It received more than 300 shares in three days. Other versions of the claim spread widely on Instagram and X.

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Our rating: Missing context

The implied claim is wrong. Omar was removed from the committee in 2023, not 2024, after making controversial remarks about Israel.

Omar voted out of committee in February 2023, following comments about Israel's influence on Congress

The vote by the Republican-led House to remove Omar from the committee came more than a year before the social media posts were made.

Omar was ousted Feb. 2, 2023, in a 218-211 vote, as reported by USA TODAY. Legislators in support of the move attributed it to Omar’s comments about Israel that were criticized by members of both parties.

For example, she suggested that Israel demands “allegiance” from members of Congress and wrote an X post saying the American Israel Public Affairs Committee paid legislators to support Israel. Omar later deleted and apologized for the post.

In an address to the chamber before the vote, Omar said her “leadership and voice will not be diminished” regardless of whether she is on the committee.

Fact check: Ilhan Omar is still a member of Congress, contrary to bogus Facebook post

Congresswomen Cori Bush (D-MO), left, Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), right, and Ilhan Omar (D-MN), center, speaking at a press conference on Dec. 7, 2023 in Washington, D.C calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Congresswomen Cori Bush (D-MO), left, Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), right, and Ilhan Omar (D-MN), center, speaking at a press conference on Dec. 7, 2023 in Washington, D.C calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Her office said in a June 2023 news release that the congresswoman’s removal from the committee seemingly served to make her an “even more prominent voice on the issues she cares about."

USA TODAY has debunked an array of false claims about Omar, including that she pledged loyalty to Somalia instead of the U.S., that the GOP approved a resolution to remove her from Congress and that a photo shows her at an al-Qaida training camp in Somalia.

USA TODAY reached out to users who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive responses.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Rep. Ilhan Omar voted out of House committee in 2023 | Fact check