GOP lawmaker defends her record from Marjorie Taylor Greene attack after criticizing Boebert
On Twitter, Greene told Mace to “back up off” Boebert, while accusing Mace of not being conservative and attacking her as “the trash in the GOP Conference.”
Mace, a Republican from South Carolina, responded to Greene by correcting the Georgia congresswoman’s spelling mistake and then defending her own record as a conservative.
The public spat between the two prominent Republican freshmen members of the House exemplifies the growing divides between the party’s moderate and fringe wings. It also shows the difficulty House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy faces in uniting his conference ahead of the 2022 midterms, when Republicans hope to win back the majority in the chamber.
Mace on Sunday had said she absolutely “100 percent” condemns Boebert’s anti-Muslim comments and that she was disappointed by the Colorado Republican’s remarks.
“I have time after time condemned my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for racist tropes and remarks that I find disgusting, and this is no different than any others,” she told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, adding, “We have a responsibility to lower the temperature, and this does not do that.”
Boebert apologized on Twitter Friday to “anyone in the Muslim community I offended” and said she reached out to Omar’s office to speak with the Minnesota congresswoman directly.
Omar said she hung up on Boebert after she “refused to publicly acknowledge her hurtful and dangerous comments.” Boebert confirmed that Omar had asked for a public apology, but that she instead called on Omar to issue a public apology of her own for prior comments that Boebert accused of being “anti-American” and “anti-Semitic.”
McCarthy has not condemned Boebert’s comments but said in a statement that he spoke to Boebert on Friday in the wake of her comments and encouraged her to meet with Omar.
Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who slammed Boebert as “TRASH” in the wake of her remarks about Omar surfacing, has criticized McCarthy for “catering” to the party’s far-right flank and warned that his actions are alienating moderates.
CNN’s Sarah Fortinsky and Sonnet Swire contributed to this report.
