"It was really clearly an effort to actually protect Ilhan Omar, to cover up her bigotry and anti-Semitism by refusing to name her," Rep. Liz Cheney said. | Alex Wong/Getty Images Congress Cheney says House anti-Semitism resolution was effort to protect Omar

Rep. Liz Cheney said Sunday that the House resolution last week condemning anti-Semitism was little more than an attempt to protect Rep. Ilhan Omar by not calling her out by name.

On March 7, Cheney was one of 23 Republican lawmakers to oppose a House resolution to condemn “anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, racism and other forms of bigotry.” And while Cheney agreed with both the contents of the resolution and calling for an end to hateful rhetoric, the Wyoming Republican argued that it came across more like an effort to protect Omar (D-Minn.) than anything else.


“Look, I think there are two ways we could have gone,” Cheney said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” when asked whether she thinks most of her Republican colleagues made a mistake by voting for the resolution alongside House Democrats.

“Some of the people in our conference clearly looked at it and said, 'There’s nothing objectionable in the resolution.' My statement made clear that that was my view as well. But I decided to vote against it because I think it was really clearly an effort to actually protect Ilhan Omar, to cover up her bigotry and anti-Semitism by refusing to name her.”

Cheney also said that she’s disappointed that Democratic House leadership has yet to take any steps to remove Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee.

“The Democrats have yet to take any action to remove her from her committee,” she said. “And they’ve got a real problem. I mean, the extent to which they’re abiding by anti-Semitism, enabling anti-Semitism in their party. It’s something we watch them struggle with but something that’s dangerous for the country. I’m hopeful that they’ll be able to stand up and do the right thing.”

Cheney has repeatedly called for Omar to be stripped of her committee assignments, but NBC’s Chuck Todd prodded Cheney on whether it was really Congress’ place to make sush decisions when voters send people like Omar to Washington, knowing full well what they believed.

“Voters send them there. Nobody is saying we’re going to expel them,” she said. “We respect the decision voters made. But there are certain things that shouldn’t be part of our public discourse."

Omar has sparked controversy with her statements about Israel. At one point, she suggested that there was a financial motive behind political support for Israel (“It’s all about the Benjamins baby”). She subsequently said she wanted “to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is OK to push for allegiance to a foreign country,” a statement that some Jewish-Americans took as meaning she considered them disloyal to the United States.

“It is absolutely shameful that Nancy Pelosi and Leader [Steny] Hoyer and the Democratic leaders will not put her name in a resolution on the floor and condemn her remarks and remove her from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Those people who won’t condemn it are enabling it.

Cheney helped spearhead the effort to sideline controversial Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) from House committees, even calling for his resignation after he made “abhorrent and racist” remarks.