The chairman of President Donald Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission stated Wednesday that he ousted a member of the fee after she sparred with fellow members throughout a contentious public hearing on antisemitism.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who chairs the fee, said on X that it was his name to take away Carrie Prejean Boller, a former Miss California USA, after tense exchanges through the hearing Monday over what constitutes antisemitism within the US.
Boller, through the hearing, defended conservative commentator Candace Owens, who has boosted conspiracy theories and embraced antisemitic rhetoric to her tens of millions of on-line followers.
“Carrie Prejean Boller has been removed from President Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission,” Patrick stated. “No member of the Commission has the right to hijack a hearing for their own personal and political agenda on any issue. This is clearly, without question, what happened Monday in our hearing on antisemitism in America. This was my decision.”
Boller challenged Patrick’s authority to oust her, insisting on X, “As the name states, this is President Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission, not yours. You did not appoint me to the Commission, and you lack authority to remove me from it. This is a gross overstepping of your role and leads me to believe you are acting in alignment with a Zionist political framework that hijacked the hearing, rather than in defense of religious liberty.”
NCS has reached out to the White House and the fee to substantiate that Boller has been faraway from the fee.
During the hearing, Boller argued that Owens isn’t antisemitic.
“I haven’t heard one thing out of her mouth that I would say is antisemitic,” she stated.
The hearing featured a number of witnesses, together with first-hand accounts of college students and others who stated universities failed to guard Jewish college students amid pro-Palestinian protests through the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza, the Associated Press reported.
Seth Dillon, CEO of the conservative satirical web site The Babylon Bee, which routinely lampoons progressives, was there to testify that conservatives have to push again in opposition to a rising antisemitic motion on the precise, based on the AP.
Boller challenged him, questioning whether or not critics of Israel ought to be thought-about antisemitic, the AP stated. Dillon stated no, however that context issues. There are “people who try to conceal their antisemitism under the guise of merely criticizing Israel,” he stated.
She additionally disputed Dillon’s criticisms of Owens.
“You should look up more of her statements,” Dillon stated, citing things like Owens saying her critics had been “of the synagogue of Satan.”
President Trump created the fee final 12 months and charged it with “exploring the foundations of religious liberty in America,” and “identifying current threats to domestic religious liberty.”
Late Wednesday night time, Boller was nonetheless listed as a member of the fee on the White House’s website.
The fee is the topic of a brand new federal lawsuit this week from progressive spiritual teams, based on the AP. The swimsuit says the panel fails to symbolize numerous views and religions and consists nearly completely of conservative Christian members.