Jewish visitors to the United States Capitol were left confused on Thursday morning after they ran into Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) who asked them if they were on a “reconnaissance” tour.
The group was meeting with Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y) and was wearing yarmulkes, and the person coordinating the group is Orthodox, with a traditional beard, BuzzFeed reports.
A witness told the the outlet that Boebert stepped off an elevator, looked the group of visitors “from head to toe,” then asked if they were there to conduct “reconnaissance.”
“When I heard that, I actually turned to the person standing next to me and asked, ‘Did you just hear that?’” a rabbi who was with the group said.
“You know, I’m not sure to be offended or not,” the rabbi added. “I was very confused.”
Boebert said she was referencing comments that some Democrats directed at her about tours she gave before the Capitol attack on Jan. 6.
“I saw a large group and made a joke. Sadly when Democrats see the same they demonize my family for a year straight,” she told BuzzFeed in a text. “I’m too short to see anyone’s yarmulkes.”
Rep. Suozzi, the congressman who invited the group to the Capitol to commemorate the 41st anniversary of the end of the Iran hostage crisis said in statement: “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.”
