Top Republican Tom Emmer calls for Ethics Committee investigation into Squad’s Ilhan Omar following her controversial ‘Somalia first’ declaration that sparked outrage and demands she resign from Congress

A number of top Republicans are demanding the Ethics Committee probe Rep. Ilhan Omar over a speech where the progressive and left-wing member of the United States Congress allegedly declared she is ‘Somalia first.’

According to number of translations of a now-viral clip of remarks Omar made in Somali language, she said her allegiances lie with Somalia over the U.S.

‘We are an organized society, brothers and sisters, people of the same blood, people who know they are Somalis first, Muslims second, who protect one another,’ Omar said, according to a widely circulated translation of her video clip in Minnesota where she was speaking to anti Somaliland- Ethiopia MoU of 1st of January 2024 in Addis Ababa

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Following massive backlash and calls for her to resign or even be deported, House GOP Whip Tom Emmer is reported of demanding an ethics investigation into her ‘appalling’ rhetoric.

According to a letter circulated, Emmer asked the House Ethics Committee to probe whether the Minnesota Democrat had violated Rule XXIII, clause 1, which states: ‘a Member of the House shall behave at all times in a manner that shall reflect credibly on the House.’

Omar claims that translation is not accurate and that ‘propagandists’ are twisting her words.

‘No sitting member of Congress should be able to blatantly spew anti-American rhetoric and get away with it. I am demanding an ethics investigation into Ilhan Omar’s appalling, Somalia-first comments to ensure that she starts taking her oath of office and commitment to the 5th district of Minnesota Mseriously,’ said Emmer, a fellow Minnesotan, in a statement. 

Emmer has joined the calls for the Somalia-born progressive to resign over her remarks. 

The clip was first shared by Somaliland Ambassador Rhoda Elmi, who called them ‘unbecoming’ and ‘lacking in common decency.’

Somaliland is an unrecognized state that had non ratified union with Somalia after it got its independence from Great Britain and withdrew that union in 1991. Somalia views as its own territory.

Omar, the first Somalian-American in Congress, said in the clip she would do everything in her power to prevent the Republic of Somaliland from entering a sea-access deal with Ethiopia. She is anti Somaliland and in the past took part in various campaigns blocking Somaliland to access the US Congress and the Senate. Ilhan Omar also jointed groups blamed for orchestrating the war in Las Anod in 2023.

‘Sleep in comfort knowing I am here to protect the interest of Somalia from inside the U.S. system,’ Omar said, according to the widely-shared, translated version of the video.

Omar reportedly said in her speech that ‘the US government will only do what Somalians in the U.S. tell them to do. They will do what we want and nothing else.’

‘They must follow our orders and that is how we will safeguard the interest of Somalia,’ she adds. ‘We Somalians must have the confidence in ourselves that we call the shots in the U.S.’

‘Together we will protect the interests of Somalia.’

‘It’s not only slanted but completely off,’ Omar said of the subtitles in the clip the Somaliland ambassador shared. ‘But I wouldn’t expect more from these propagandists.’

In a translation Omar claims to be more accurate, she says she told her Somali constituents who were worried about the Somaliland-Ethiopia deal:

‘The US government will do what we ask it to do. We should have this confidence in ourselves as Somalis. We live in this country. We are taxpayers in this country. This country is one where one of your daughters sits in Congress.’ 

While I am in Congress, no one will take Somalia’s sea.’

‘The United States will not back others to rob us. So, do not lose sleep over that, O Minnesotans. The lady you sent to Congress is on this, and she is as cognizant of this interest as you are,’ Omar went on according to her preferred translation. 

‘Somalia belongs to all Somalis. Somalia is one. We are brothers and sisters, and our land will not be balkanized. Our lands were taken from us before, and God willing, we may one day seek them.’

Omar has railed against U.S. lawmakers’ so-called allegiance to a foreign country before. 

When the Somaliland president went to the USA in 2022 and met with the Foreign Committee which Ilhan Omar was a member, she ridiculed his English accent and caused Somalilanders to outrageously respond her reckless comments about president Muse Bihi Abdi and the way he addressed the US Foreign Committee.

The former refugee from Somalia is Somali community divider that lobbies against Somaliland interests in the US Congress.

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