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Marjorie Taylor Greene Moves to Censure Ilhan Omar for ‘Treasonous Statements,’ Acting as ‘Foreign Agent’

Omar maintains this interpretation of her translated comments is ‘completely off’

Published: February 1, 2024
  |   By Chris Karr
Marjorie Taylor Greene Moves to Censure Ilhan Omar for ‘Treasonous Statements,’ Acting as ‘Foreign Agent’

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) introduced a resolution to censure Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) for making “treasonous statements” on Thursday.


The Georgia representative referenced a contested translation of comments Omar made during a Jan. 27 event at the Minneapolis Hyatt Hotel.

“The U.S. government will only do what Somalians in the U.S. tell them to do,” Omar allegedly said in Somali according to the translation provided in a video that went viral earlier this week. “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.”

“For as long as I am in U.S. Congress, Somalia will never be in danger,” read the translation of Omar’s comments. “Its waters will not be stolen by Ethiopia or others. Sleep in comfort knowing I am here to protect the interest of Somalia from inside the U.S. system.”

On the House floor, Greene quoted these translations after stating her intent to censure “Ilhan Omar of Somali— I mean, Minnesota.”


The Georgia representative said Omar made “treasonous comments,” and cited George Washington’s farewell address of 1796 warning “to guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.”

“By openly admitting her efforts to advance Somalia’s interest using her position as a United States representative, Rep. Omar has revealed herself to be a foreign agent, acting on behalf of a foreign government,” she concluded.

Greene also asked that the Minnesota representative be removed from the Committee of the Budget and the Committee on Education and the Workforce.

“It’s been an outrage that has been shared all over social media,” Greene told reporters after moving to force a vote on her measure. “Many people have been calling our offices, expressing their outrage that a United States member of Congress … gave a speech telling people that she represents the interests of a foreign country, and in her role as a United States representative. I mean, that’s literally treason."

She added: “I would love to have her expelled. I’d love to have her deported. And think many Americans would agree with that. Unfortunately, I don’t think we have the votes to do that, so I’m hoping that we can at least censure her.”


Since the video of Omar surfaced, numerous lawmakers and pundits have called for her expulsion and deportation.

“Expel from Congress, denaturalize and deport!” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wrote on X.

“Ilhan Omar’s appalling, Somalia-first comments are a slap in the face to the Minnesotans she was elected to serve and a direct violation of her oath of office,” wrote House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) on X. “She should resign in disgrace.”

Commentator Benny Johnson called for Omar to be “expelled from Congress and deported back to Somalia, since she loves it so much.”

However, Omar has maintained that the translation is “not only slanted but completely off.”

“But I wouldn’t expect more from these propagandists. I pray for them and for their sanity,” she said in a Jan. 28 post on X. “No nation state can survive if its states start to get involved in land lease negotiations with other countries without the consent of the federal government. Somalis in Somalia and in the diaspora are united in that effort and I stand in solidarity with them. No amount of harassment and lies will ever change that.”


In response to a Somali advising Omar to sue her colleagues for defamation on Jan. 30, she responded: “Unfortunately in our country we can’t sue people for defamation because we are public officials. I am confident that the people I represent will never fall for the lies that are out there to smear me. They know who I represent and why I fight hard for the Minnesotans tha[t] have sent me to Congress.”

A Feb. 1 report from the independent outlet Minnesota Reformer claims that the translation in the video “distorts Omar’s words.”


The Reformer cites two independent translations the outlet obtained, including “one by a federally certified court interpreter.”

A complete translation included in the report contrasts the subtitles in the video cited by Greene.

Translations of those quotes read as follows:

They asked, what would the U.S. government do? My answer was that the U.S. government will do what we tell the U.S. government to do. That is the confidence we need to have as Somalis. We live in this country. This is the country where we pay taxes. This is the country that has elected a woman from your community. For as long as I am in Congress, no one will take over the seas belonging to the nation of Somalia and the United States will not support others who seek to steal from us. So feel comfortable Somali Minnesotans that the woman you sent to Congress is aware of this issue and feels the same way you do.

Though Greene did not cite further translated comments from the video, Omar was taken to task by several X users who criticized her for allegedly describing herself and fellow Somali Americans as “Somalians first, Muslims second.”







“Neither of the Reformer’s translations show she said ‘Somalians first, Muslims second,’” the outlet reports. “Indeed, the term ‘Somalian’ is not used by Somalis, who prefer the term ‘Somali.’ A devout Muslin like Omar would have faced outrage from the largely Muslim audience had she placed her religion second, according to one translator.”

The quote in the outlet’s translation reads: “We are people who know that they are Somali and Muslim.”

Conservative commentator Candace Owens also shared an alternative translation that contrasted the video’s subtitles. A clip from one of Owen’s broadcasts featuring that translation was shared on X by Omar.


“Greene called her censure legislation to the floor as a privileged resolution, a procedural gambit that forces leadership to hold a vote within two legislative days,” The Hill reports. “Leadership can either bring the resolution to the floor for a vote or motion to table it, both of which would require majority support. The House is leaving Washington Thursday and is set to reconvene on Monday. Greene said she informed leadership that she was introducing the resolution but did not get an indication of how they would act on it.”

“A censure is a formal vote of deep disapproval of a member’s conduct taken by either chamber of Congress,” per The Hill. “A vote to censure another member of Congress does not hold any other power beyond a public condemning of that member’s behavior. It does not expel a member from Congress or deny the rights or privileges of that member within Congress.”

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