Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert.Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty
Rep. Lauren Boebert had anotherawkward elevator encounterat the U.S. Capitol.
This time, the Colorado Republican ran into a group of Jewish visitors who were there to see New York Rep. Tom Suozzi on the anniversary of the end of the Iran hostage crisis 41 years ago,according to BuzzFeed News.
Some wore yarmulkes and the organizer of the visit is reportedly Orthodox and has a traditional beard.
When their elevator arrived and its doors opened, Boebert emerged. A witness said she looked over the visitors “from head to toe” and then asked if they were there to do “reconnaissance.”
“When I heard that, I actually turned to the person standing next to me and asked, ‘Did you just hear that?'” a rabbi among the visitors told BuzzFeed. The rabbi mentioned a recenthostage situation at a synagogue in Texasand added that “people are very sensitive now.”
“I’m not sure to be offended or not,” the rabbi also said.
“I saw a large group and made a joke. Sadly when Democrats see the same they demonize my family for a year straight,” Boebert said, adding that she’s “too short to see anyone’s yarmulkes.”
Lauren Boebert.JASON CONNOLLY/AFP via Getty
Reps. Steve Cohen of Tennessee and Rep. John Yarmuth of Kentucky claimed they spotted Boebert with a group of visitors in a tunnel in the Capitol complex three days before the riots.
“Whether these people were people that were involved in the insurrection or not, I do not know,” Cohentold CNN a year ago.
Boebert flatly denied the accusation. “I have never given a tour of the U.S. Capitol to any outside group,” she said in a statement at the time. “As I previously stated, I brought my family to the Capitol on January 2nd for a tour and on the 3rd for pictures to commemorate the day I was sworn in as a Member of the U.S. Congress.”
The lawmaker’s freshman term has beencheckered with controversy. A provocative conservative in the mold of former President Trump, Boebertfeuded last yearwith Rep.Ilhan Omarafter Boebert told a story of running into the Muslim lawmaker in an elevator.
“I look to my left, and there she is. Ilhan Omar,” Boebert told supporters at an event in Colorado. “And I said, ‘Well, she doesn’t have a backpack, we should be fine.'”
Aaron Parsley
source: people.com
