GOP governor says McCarthy should condemn Boebert’s anti-Muslim remarks

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) said on Sunday that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) should condemn Rep. Lauren Boebert’s (R-Colo.) anti-Muslim remarks. 

“I do. I think whenever, even in our own caucus, our own members, if they go the wrong direction, I mean, it has to be called out. It has to be dealt with, particularly whenever it is breaching the civility, whenever it is crossing the line in terms of violence or increasing the divide in our country,” Hutchinson told host Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union” after she played a clip of Boebert’s comments.

“So, one of the things that’s really important to us in the future is increasing the civil debate and civil discourse. And we have got to look for ways that we can bring people together and not divide and certainly along racial lines,” Hutchinson added.  

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson says House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy should condemn GOP Rep. Boebert’s anti-Muslim remarks.

“In our own caucus, our own members, if they go the wrong direction, I mean, it has to be called out,” Hutchinson says. https://t.co/cGRLsaztOA #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/5bYZpyz6Vt

— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) November 28, 2021

A video surfaced over the Thanksgiving holiday break showing Boebert telling an audience that she and fellow Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) were on an elevator as a Capitol Police officer ran toward it. 

“I look to my left, and there she is. Ilhan Omar. I said, ‘Well, she doesn’t have a backpack. We should be fine,’” Boebert told the audience. 

Omar says the incident never happened.

Boebert apologized to the Muslim community on Friday after Omar called her out for her “anti-Muslim bigotry.” 

McCarthy said in a statement to CNN that he spoke with Boebert on Friday about her comments, saying the Colorado lawmaker has offered to meet with Omar. 

“I spoke with [House Majority] Leader [Steny] Hoyer [D-Md.] today to help facilitate that meeting so that Congress can get back to talking to each other and working on the challenges facing the American people,” McCarthy said.