Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) suggested that God used her to stand up to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), whom she indirectly referred to as one of her “demons,” while speaking at a women’s conference at a Dallas church over the weekend.
“Ladies … God is using you in mighty ways,” she told a crowd of what appeared to be mostly women, according to clips of her remarks posted by PatriotTakes, a liberal PAC. Boebert was a featured speaker at the SALT Conference at Storehouse Dallas, which aims to provide “spiritual and leadership training to equip an army of women to awaken culture with the truth and love of Jesus.”
“Maybe he’ll have you ball up your fists and stand in front of some demons — maybe a speaker of the House?” Boebert added, to laughter and a standing ovation from those in the audience.
After some of the laughter died down, Boebert joked that she had also stood up to former House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), “so nobody knows what I really meant there, for the record, when they try to put this in print.”
Boebert was among a small group of hard-right Republicans in the House who opposed McCarthy’s speakership bid, forcing four days’ worth of votes before he finally won the gavel last month. McCarthy made a number of concessions to hard-right members of his caucus to become speaker, including changes to House rules.
In another clip from Boebert’s remarks at the SALT Conference posted by Patriot Takes, Boebert describes how she and some of the other McCarthy holdouts — Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Scott Perry (R-Pa.) — put together a “final list of concessions” and walked it over to McCarthy’s office the day before votes commenced, only to be rebuffed by the Republican leader.
“We started hearing lies about the meeting, that we came in asking for a personal wish list, nothing for the good of the country,” Boebert said.
As she has before, Boebert also told the crowd that she was praying for President Biden to leave the White House.
“Let his days be few and another take his office,” she said, citing a Bible verse that includes a prayer for the death of one’s enemy.
“Unfortunately, he does have a really great insurance policy named Kamala Harris,” she added.
Representatives for Boebert’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.
Boebert, one of former president Donald Trump’s staunchest and most controversial allies in Congress, has repeatedly sparked backlash for her inflammatory remarks against Democrats and political opponents.
Last year, Boebert faced criticism after she told congregants at a Colorado religious service that she was “tired” of the separation of church and state in the United States.
“The church is supposed to direct the government. The government is not supposed to direct the church. That is not how our Founding Fathers intended it,” Boebert said then. “I’m tired of this separation of church and state junk that’s not in the Constitution. It was in a stinking letter, and it means nothing like what they say it does.”
Boebert barely survived her reelection bid in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, winning by roughly 500 votes out of 327,000 cast.
Since her election in 2020, Boebert has made national headlines for her remarks on subjects including gun rights and pandemic restrictions and has made baseless claims about Democrats. She also came under scrutiny for using campaign funds to pay her rent and utility bills, and for receiving an eyebrow-raising $22,259 in mileage reimbursements from her campaign.
In March 2022, Boebert heckled Biden during his State of the Union address as he mentioned the dangers U.S. troops face, among them cancer, the disease that his son Beau died of in 2015.