Nancy Mace Targets Ilhan Omar in Charlie Kirk Speech Crackdown

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., introduced a motion on Monday to censure Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., over comments she made about Charlie Kirk, seeking to add her House colleague to the growing list of people professionally punished for their speech in the wake of the conservative commentator’s killing last week. Omar’s office said Tuesday that the measure was an example of Republican hypocrisy over the concept of free speech. “Congresswoman Omar was one of the first to condemn Charlie Kirk’s murder. She explicitly expressed her sympathies and prayers to his wife and children. She condemned his assassination and has routinely condemned political violence, no matter the political ideology,” a spokesperson from Omar’s office said in a statement to The Intercept. In an interview with Zeteo last week, Omar addressed remembrances of Kirk that she viewed as sanitizing his overtly bigoted stances and lending undue credulity to his political intent. She also said the news of his killing was “mortifying” and that her heart broke for his children. “There are a lot of people who are out there talking about him [Kirk] just wanting to have a civil debate,” Omar told Zeteo’s Medhi Hasan. Missing from those arguments, Omar said, was an acknowledgment of the well-documented views Kirk espoused. “Charlie was someone who once said guns save lives after a school shooting,” she said. “Charlie was someone who was willing to debate and downplay the death of George Floyd in the hands of Minneapolis police.”  Related Nothing Will Stop Trump From Weaponizing Charlie Kirk’s Killing to Attack the Left Kirk’s legacy has been the subject of enthusiastic debate in the days since he was killed. Kirk founded and led the right-wing organization Turning Point USA, which worked to mobilize support for what the Southern Poverty Law Center described as “a white-dominated, male supremacist, Christian social order.” Mace’s censure resolution comes as at least dozens of people have been fired or disciplined for comments they made in the wake of Kirk’s killing. That includes Matthew Dowd, an analyst at MSNBC, and Karen Attiah, a Washington Post Opinion writer.  “It is telling that those claiming they are for free speech are the ones punishing and silencing those who exercise that right.” Mace said Omar’s comments mocked Kirk’s killing and merited removal from her committee assignments. Mace’s resolution repeatedly quotes a video that Omar reposted on X, but does not quote the representative herself. Her office did not immediately respond to The Intercept’s request for comment. In comments to reporters on Monday, President Donald Trump said he agreed that Omar should be stripped from her committees because of her comments about Kirk. Omar’s office said that during the Zeteo interview, she grappled with what she described as Kirk’s divisive legacy but never implied that he deserved to be shot or celebrated his death. “It is telling that those claiming they are for free speech are the ones punishing and silencing those who exercise that right,” an Omar spokesperson said in a statement to The Intercept. Since she was elected in 2018, Omar has herself faced violent threats, which she addressed in the Zeteo interview. “You have people like Nancy Mace who constantly harass people that she finds inferior and wants them to not exist in this country or ever,” Omar said. “You have people like Trump, who has incited violence against people like me. These people are full of shit, and it’s important for us to call them out while we feel anger and sadness.” Omar has already faced a handful of censure resolutions and attacks from both Democrats and Republicans in recent years over her comments criticizing the Israel lobby and U.S. imperialism. Omar faced two censure resolutions last year over a claim that she had a “history of antisemitism” and separate comments she made in a speech to Somali Americans. In 2023, House Republicans removed Omar from her position on the House Foreign Affairs Committee over comments she made criticizing the Israel lobby. And in 2019, the House voted on a resolution claiming to condemn antisemitism in response to other comments from Omar.  Omar’s office said these punishments from the GOP showed a clear bias. “It is also notable that every single Republican censure resolution against members of Congress targets legislators of color.” Update: September 16, 2025, 2:47 p.m. ET This story has been updated to include additional detail about Rep. Nancy Mace’s resolution. The post Nancy Mace Targets Ilhan Omar in Charlie Kirk Speech Crackdown appeared first on The Intercept.