Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Jewish Group Visiting Capitol Bewildered After Boebert Asks Them If They're Doing 'Reconnaissance'

Jewish Group Visiting Capitol Bewildered After Boebert Asks Them If They're Doing 'Reconnaissance'
Win McNamee/Getty Images

Representative Lauren Boebert, a Colorado Republican, stunned a group of Jewish visitors to the United States Capitol after she asked them if they were conducting "reconnaissance" after she ran into them while they waited for an elevator.

Members of the group, who were wearing yarmulkes, had come in to meet Representative Tom Suozzi. The group's organizer is an Orthodox Jew and sports a full beard.


A witness said Boebert stepped out of the elevator, looked at the visitors “from head to toe," and then asked if they had come to conduct "reconnaissance."

A rabbi who spoke to Buzzfeed News said the experience blindsided him:

“When I heard that, I actually turned to the person standing next to me and asked, ‘Did you just hear that?’ You know, I’m not sure to be offended or not. I was very confused.”

The incident also earned a rebuke from Suozzi, a Democrat who represents New York, who brought the group in to commemorate the 41st anniversary of the end of the Iran hostage crisis.

Regarding Boebert, Suozzi said members of Congress "can't be cavalier in the comments" they make, especially when they risk offending or discriminating against others:

"The bottom line is that everyone, especially members of Congress, have to be very, very thoughtful in the language they use. Because when you're a member of Congress, you have an important role to play in society."
"You can't be cavalier in the comments you make especially if they could be perceived as being antisemitic, or discriminatory."

Boebert, for her part, went on to defend her remarks, referencing comments from Democrats about tours she gave prior to the insurrection of January 6:

“I saw a large group and made a joke. Sadly when Democrats see the same they demonize my family for a year straight. I’m too short to see anyone’s yarmulkes."

That response did not go over well with Boebert's critics, who've accused her of anti-Semitic bigotry in the wake of the Colleyville synagogue hostage crisis, when a British Pakistani armed with a pistol took four people hostage during a Sabbath service.






Allegations that Boebert gave a "large tour" prior to the insurrection surfaced after the attack, coming shortly after authorities announced they would investigate whether lawmakers gave rioters a tour of the Capitol building ahead of time, compromising security.

In the week after the attack, Representative Steve Cohen, a Tennessee Democrat, said he saw Boebert "taking a group of people for a tour sometime after the 3rd [of January] and before the 6th [the day of the attack]." He said he did not know whether any of the individuals who were with Boebert that day later participated in the attack.

The extent of Boebert's alleged involvement in the insurrection, which took place when a mob of former President Donald Trump's supporters stormed the United States Capitol on the false premise the 2020 election had been stolen,

In October 2021, Rolling Stone published an article stating several supporters of former President Trump who helped plan the insurrection had multiple planning sessions with senior White House staffers and Republican members of Congress.

Sources who spoke to the magazine said they met with several high-profile Trump acolytes, including Representatives Paul Gosar (Arizona), Marjorie Taylor Greene (Georgia), Madison Cawthorn (North Carolina) and Boebert herself.

Organizers claim Gosar promised "blanket pardons" to anyone who participated in the attack, adding they "would talk to Boebert's team, Cawthorn's team, Gosar's team like back to back to back to back."

More from People/lauren-boebert

JD Vance; Jen Psaki
Johannes Simon/Getty Images; Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Vance Gets Brutal Reminder After Accusing Jen Psaki Of 'Attacking' People For Praying Following School Shooting

Vice President JD Vance was criticized after he lashed out at MSNBC host Jen Psaki for saying that "prayer is not freaking enough" to end school shootings after a shooter killed two children and wounded 17 others during the first week of classes at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis.

Psaki spoke out on X shortly after the shooting occured, to stress that "thoughts and prayers" don't actually address or prevent mass shootings and gun violence overall:

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @andydouglas.trumpboy's TikTok video; President Donald Trump
@andydouglas.trumpboy/TikTok; Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Video Of Little Boy Sobbing After Finding Out Trump Is A Real Person Goes Viral—And We Totally Get It

Whether it was Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, or some other important facet of childhood, most of us found out when we were kids that something we loved did not exist, and it was absolutely devastating and world-changing.

But imagine there being something that you deeply disliked or feared, only for you to find out that it actually exists on the same plane and in the same timeline as you.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @originalsugarphly's TikTok video
@originalsugarphly/TikTok

Woman Stunned After Best Friend Of 23 Years Ends Friendship Over Her 'Mom Shorts'

We will all have friends who come into our lives for a reason, for a season, or for a lifetime. There are those situational friendships, like from work or school, that dissolve when we exit that space, and there are friendships that might form from knowing the same people.

Then there are those tried-and-true friendships that we think will truly stand the test of time—but even those sometimes fracture under pressure. And sometimes for the most ridiculous reasons.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @nurse_xtina129's TikTok
@nurse_xtina129/TikTok

Woman Sparks Debate By Putting Out Small Fire At Dunkin' Donuts After Workers Ignored It

Imagine hitting that afternoon slump and seeking out your favorite caffeinated beverage: a highlight in an otherwise dumpster fire kind of day. But then you arrive at your coffeehouse of choice—and there's literally a fire.

TikToker Cristina Conklin was waiting in line for a beverage at Dunkin' Donuts in Warwick, New York, when she became either a villain or a hero, depending on who was watching her TikTok video.

Keep ReadingShow less
Former Republican congressman and Fox News host Trey Gowdy
Roy Rochlin/Getty Images

MAGA Fumes Over Fox Gun Control Talk

The nation is reeling after yesterday’s mass shooting at Annunciation Church in Minneapolis, where a gunman opened fire during a Catholic school Mass, killing two children and injuring more than a dozen others. The tragedy has not only shaken the community but also reignited the national debate over guns in America—this time sparked by an unlikely voice.

Former Republican congressman and Fox News host of Sunday Night in America, Trey Gowdy—long seen as a staunch defender of gun rights and a past recipient of National Rifle Association contributions—surprised many of his own allies when he called for a national reckoning on firearms access.

Keep ReadingShow less