WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump escalated his long-running feud with Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) on Thursday, calling for her impeachment and expulsion from Congress in a blistering attack tied to her comments on the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. “I think she’s terrible. I think she should be impeached—it should happen fast,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, reviving old accusations that Omar married her brother for U.S. citizenship and slamming her native Somalia as a “failed state” with “no government, no police, nothing.”
The outburst followed a failed House resolution by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) to censure Omar and strip her of committee assignments on Education and the Workforce, and Budget. The 214-213 vote Wednesday saw four Republicans join Democrats in tabling it, but Trump decried the outcome as “a disgrace,” accusing Omar of inciting violence with her podcast remarks downplaying Kirk’s September 10 slaying during a Turning Point USA event. “She comes from a place with nothing and tells us how to run our country—lock her up,” Trump fumed, echoing rally chants.
Omar, 43, the first Somali-American Muslim in Congress, fired back on social media: “Attempts to twist my words are deeply harmful to honest debate. This is Trump’s playbook—fearmongering to divide.” Her office emphasized the comments critiqued Kirk’s “hate speech,” not glorified murder, amid a surge in anti-Muslim rhetoric post-Gaza ceasefire. The censure push, led by Mace and backed by Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Randy Fine (R-Fla.), aimed to probe “radical left-wing violence,” but failed amid bipartisan resistance.
Legal hurdles loom: Impeachment applies to executives, not lawmakers; expulsion requires a two-thirds House vote—unlikely with Democrats holding the minority. Yet Trump’s call supercharges GOP primaries, with Mace eyeing higher office. Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, decried it as “Nixonian vengeance,” tying it to probes against foes like Comey. As midterms near, Omar’s district remains solidly blue, but the furor tests her resilience. For Trump, it’s red meat for the base: Removal or not, the fight endures.
