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A member of President Donald Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission was removed after a hearing this week that featured tense exchanges on antisemitism, the commission’s chair said. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said the member’s conduct during a Monday hearing on antisemitism in America amounted to steering the proceeding toward “personal and political agenda” concerns rather than the commission’s work.
Patrick’s statement said, “No member of the commission has the right to hijack a hearing for their own personal and political agenda on any issue,” and added, “This is clearly, without question, what happened Monday in our hearing on antisemitism in America. This was my decision.” The chair said the removal followed the Monday session.
The member ousted by Patrick was Carrie Prejean Boller, who AP reported defended Candace Owens during the hearing. AP said Boller denied that Owens had ever made antisemitic statements, and AP reported that Boller cited a Bible verse she said attributes the death of Jesus to Jews. AP also reported that Boller pushed back on the idea that some people mask antisemitism in criticism of Israel.
Boller challenged Patrick’s authority to remove her, saying only Trump can make that decision. AP reported that in a post on the social media platform X, Boller said Patrick’s actions “reflect a Zionist political agenda.”
The hearing took place as the commission, created by Trump last year, is facing legal scrutiny in Washington. AP reported that the commission is the subject of a new federal lawsuit this week brought by progressive religious groups and that the suit argues the panel fails to represent diverse views and religions, consisting almost entirely of conservative Christian members.
AP reported that the lawsuit says the Federal Advisory Committee Act requires advisory committees to be “fairly balanced” among competing viewpoints. It said the commissioners, “consisting of almost exclusively Christians with one Orthodox Jewish Rabbi,” reflect a narrow perspective that the country was founded as a “Judeo-Christian” nation and should be guided by biblical principles, and that such a composition excludes people of other faiths and those with no religion. The complaint also says it excludes people in the Judeo-Christian tradition who “are committed to religious freedom and pluralism, and reject Christian nationalism.”
The antisemitism-focused hearing itself included multiple witnesses, including testimony from students and others who said universities failed to protect Jewish students amid pro-Palestinian protests during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. AP also reported that Boller had sharp exchanges with witnesses, including with Seth Dillon, CEO of the conservative satirical site The Babylon Bee, who testified that conservatives need to push back against antisemitism in the right.
According to AP, Dillon told the commission that conservatives should respond to antisemitism and that “people who try to conceal their antisemitism under the guise of merely criticizing Israel.” AP reported that Boller questioned how critics of Israel should be considered antisemitic, and that Dillon answered that context matters. AP also reported that Boller questioned whether social media platforms should be pressured to ban quotations of a Bible verse that she said attributes the death of Jesus to Jews.
AP reported that Boller also disputed Dillon’s criticisms of Owens, saying she had never heard Owens say anything antisemitic. AP said Dillon responded by telling Boller to “look up more of her statements,” citing Owens remarks Dillon described as saying critics were “of the synagogue of Satan.”
The commission has held multiple hearings since it was created, AP reported. The panel is preparing to deliver a report to Trump this spring, AP said, and earlier testimony before the commission included accounts that the administration of former President Joe Biden allegedly repressed religious freedom in different ways.
As the commission heads toward its report, the hearing dispute over antisemitism and the question of the commission’s membership composition add to the controversy surrounding how the panel handles contentious viewpoints and accusations of bias, particularly as its legal challenges continue in federal court.