GOP Florida congressman thinks Lauren Boebert should keep committee assignments - "The Takeout"

After Democratic members of Congress called for GOP Congresswoman Lauren Boebert to be removed from her committee assignments after making anti-Muslim remarks recently, fellow Republican Congressman Byron Donalds disagreed. 

"I don't agree with that at all," the freshman Republican from Florida told CBS News chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett on "The Takeout" podcast this week. "She shouldn't have said it. I wouldn't have said it."

Donalds argued that punishing Boebert would break precedent in Congress. "The history in this body has been that each party basically allows people to sit on committees and puts them on those committees... the parties decide that, not the opposition party." 

In a video posted to Twitter last month, Boebert told a crowd in her district an insulting anecdote about Michigan Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, in which she referred to Omar as part of the "jihad squad," and said it was safe to be in an elevator with her — "we should be fine" because Omar was not wearing a backpack, a slur suggesting she is a terrorist. After the initial video surfaced, other videos from the past six  months revealed this wasn't the first time Boebert had insulted Omar. 

Donalds predicted that the GOP will have "massive" turnout in the 2022 midterm elections and that Republicans could pick up over 40 seats in the election. If that were the case, Donalds said he supports House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy as the next Republican speaker of the House.  

"Kevin has led us. He's done tremendous things with everything that's going on here. He led us before I got here," Donalds said. "So right now, the question is, who's going to be the person that's going to take us to the next level? Kevin's proven he can do that." 

Donalds also said that he thinks there  a high chance that former President Trump runs for the presidency for a third time. 

"Right now, I'm 70-30 that he runs. That's my opinion. It's only a decision he's going to make. If you know the [former] president, he makes his decision, it's not really made by anybody else," Donalds said. "I think what he looks at right now is that he's seeing a country that he does love, a country that he did work for, frankly fall apart in front of his eyes."  

Donalds added that if Trump does not run for office in 2024, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Florida Senator Rick Scott, and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem would be candidates he finds appealing.

Donalds, who is Black, is not currently a member of the Congressional Black Caucus as the CBC is currently composed of only Democrats. When asked by Garrett about potential interest in joining the CBC, Donalds said he wants to add his perspective of "conservative ideals" to the caucus. 

"I believe that there are large segments of the Black community that are actually quite conservative. They may not vote that way in terms of Republican or Democrat, but in their lives they are actually very conservative. And I think it's important to bring those conservative ideals to the floor and have those discussions in the CBC," Donalds said. 

Donalds also discussed the late Bob Dole's legacy. 

"It didn't really matter what his politics was, the fact that he decided that he was going to devote his entire life to the United States. And this is not just about running for president three times. This is about all his time here in Congress, his time actually on the battlefield," Donalds said. "This is a man who, you know, frankly, his body was badly damaged and still continued. There was a purpose behind everything he wanted to do." 

Highlights

• Donalds on the legacy of Sen. Bob Dole: "I mean, the first thing is just his sacrifice for the country. Most people don't know Bob Dole like basically enlisted right away, obviously after what happened at Pearl Harbor. Enlisted right away, gave his life to this country, served with tremendous honor. It didn't really matter what his politics was, the fact that he decided that he was going to devote his entire life to the United States. And this is not just about running for president three times. This is about all his time here in Congress, his time actually on the battlefield. This is a man who, you know, frankly, his body was badly damaged and still continued. There was a purpose behind everything he wanted to do." 

• Lauren Boebert and anti-Muslim slurs against Rep. Ilhan Omar: "I don't agree with that at all. Listen, I think you know what Lauren said with respect to Ilhan Omar, she shouldn't have said it. I wouldn't have said it. But that being said, what Nancy Pelosi has allowed this Congress where essentially the Speaker can decide who's going to be off of committees. Let's be honest, it's not the rank-and-file Democrats, it's the speaker that's making this decision. I think it's wrong. The history in this body has been that each party basically allows people to sit on committees and puts them on those committees... the parties decide that, not the opposition party... I think it's a bad precedent." 

• Should Kevin McCarthy should be speaker of the House in 2022 if House GOP take the majority? "I think he should... Kevin has led us. He's done tremendous things with everything that's going on here. He led us before I got here. So right now, the question is, who's going to be the person that's going to take us to the next level? Kevin's proven he can do that. Now what we need to do going forward is making sure that we actually have an agenda and we are working towards that agenda. And we're demonstrating to the American people what Republican ideals are, what conservative ideals are and what that actually will do for the United States, for its people and for the next wave of Americans to come." 

• Joining the Congressional Black Caucus as a Republican? "I believe that there are large segments of the Black community that are actually quite conservative. They may not vote that way in terms of Republican or Democrat, but in their lives they are actually very conservative. And I think it's important to bring those conservative ideals to the floor and have those discussions in the CBC... I think it's about having somebody in the room who shares the ideas from a different political perspective who still wants Black America, quote unquote, to succeed and be successful, which is exactly what I want." 

• January 6 Capitol attack: "It's absolutely was a riot and it was heinous and it was disgusting. Something that never should happen in our country at all. I get it. People are upset about elections, upset about what happened. That does not give you the right to breach a federal building in our country." 

Executive producer: Arden Farhi

Producers: Jamie Benson, Jacob Rosen, Sara Cook and Eleanor Watson

CBSN Production: Eric Soussanin 
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