Advertising

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) issued a rare, if not unexpected apology on Friday for remarks she made about Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN).

A video surfaced on Thursday showing Boebert describing how she allegedly once shared an elevator with Omar, who is a Muslim, at the Capitol. In her telling, a police officer appeared concerned about Omar’s mere presence. Boebert supposedly told the officer, “Well, she doesn’t have a backpack. We should be fine.”

She also referred to Omar as “jihad squad.”

Boebert’s comments drew widespread condemnation. Omar called her a “buffoon” and said the story is “made up.”

On Friday, Boebert apologized to the Muslim community via Twitter and said she had reached out to Omar’s office to try to speak with her directly.

CNN’s Jim Acosta addressed the dustup on Friday afternoon and said Boebert’s apology fell short.

“If Lauren Boebert worked in pretty much any other place, she would be fired for this,” he said, before asking CNN commentator Maria Cardona why Republican leaders have been largely silent about the remarks.

“Because they’re absolutely spineless, Jim,” she replied, adding that the GOP needs more people like Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), “who really is the only one who tweeted out that Lauren Boebert is trash, and he’s right.”

Acosta agreed.

“Some of these more extreme members of the

caucus are rewarded for this activity,” he said. “Lauren Boebert, you know, she tweeted out sort of this half-hearted apology saying, to anyone in the Muslim community I offended with my comment about Representative Omar. We’re not seeing an apology to Congresswoman Omar, though. I mean, that is–that is what an apology is. You apologize to the person you offended, by calling them, you know, a bomber or whatever she was suggesting.”

A charitable interpretation of Boebert’s tweet is that it suggests that by mentioning her office had reached out to Omar’s, this perhaps meant a direct apology was in the offing.

Watch above via CNN.