House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer argued Monday that he was not rebuking three particular freshman members of Congress during his speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC.
At AIPAC Sunday night, Mr. Hoyer appeared to make a pointed jab at Rep. Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who have all garnered media firestorms over various controversies since taking office in January.
“By the way, there are 62 freshman Democrats. Do you hear me? There are 62 not three,” he said.
On Monday, Mr. Hoyer argued that his comments were “misinterpreted” and weren’t meant to insult or condemn the progressive lawmakers.
“In pointing out that much of the press attention has been on a few new Members in particular, I was lamenting that the media does not appear to be paying enough attention to other excellent new Members who are also bringing important new energy and diverse perspectives to our Caucus and to the Congress [sic],” he said in a statement.
Mr. Hoyer condemned specific anti-Semitic tropes that Ms. Omar has been accused of employing in her criticisms of Israel and its supporters. He also committed Democrats to fighting against the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, which Ms. Omar and Ms. Tlaib are in support of.
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