Religious Liberty Commission removes member who defended Candace Owens

By Samantha Kamman, Christian Post Reporter Wednesday, February 11, 2026

A member of the U.S. Department of Justice's Religious Liberty Commission has been removed after she defended Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson during a recent hearing on combating antisemitism, denying that the media personalities have encouraged Jew hatred or promoted Jewish stereotypes. 

In a social media post on Wednesday morning, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who chairs the Religious Liberty Commission, announced the removal of Carrie Prejean Boller, a former Miss California, from the commission. Patrick said the removal was his decision and was based on what happened during Monday's meeting. He stated that "no member of the Commission has the right to hijack a hearing for their own personal and political agenda on any issue."

Boller was one of several commissioners appointed by President Donald Trump to the commission in May. During a Monday hearing at the Museum of the Bible, Boller, who appeared to be wearing a U.S. and Palestinian flag pin on her lapel, challenged witnesses on the topic of Israel and addressing antisemitism from certain media influencers. 

One of the witnesses who testified, Seth Dillon, CEO of The Babylon Bee, a satirical news website, brought up Owens and Carlson, two media personalities who have garnered attention in recent years for their controversial comments about Israel and the Jewish people. 

Boller, who said that she watches Owens’ podcast daily, claimed that she had never heard the media personality say anything antisemitic. 

“I would really appreciate it if you would stop calling Candace Owens an antisemite,” she said. “She’s not an antisemite. She just doesn’t support Zionism, and that really has to stop. I don’t know why you keep bringing her up, and Tucker.”

Dillon argued that Owens does more than refuse to support Zionism, encouraging Boller to review more of the podcaster’s content. The Babylon Bee CEO also asserted that Owens and Carlson are “the two most famous antisemites.” 

The former Miss California’s statements during the hearing drew loud boos from the audience. 

In a Tuesday X post following the hearing, Boller declared that she would continue to stand against “Zionist supremacy in America,” describing herself as a “proud Catholic.” The former Miss California alleged in a separate X post on the same day that the Religious Liberty Commission planned to fire her over her Catholic faith. 

“If that happens, it proves their mission was never religious liberty, but a Zionist agenda. I refuse to resign,” the commissioner wrote. 

Despite her claims that she is being targeted for Catholic beliefs, the Vatican recognizes both the state of Israel and Palestine as states and advocates for a two-state solution. Catholics hold varying views on Israel. 

"The Catholic Church teaches unequivocally that antisemitism is a grave sin; that crude forms of replacement theology are incompatible with Catholic faith; that the Jewish people remain beloved of God; and that the covenant God made with Israel has not been revoked. These are not optional opinions. They belong to the Church’s authoritative teaching," wrote Simone Rizkallah, director of the Coalition of Catholics Against Antisemitism, in a recent op-ed for The Christian Post. 

"At the same time, there remain open questions: the theological meaning of the modern State of Israel; the precise contours of the Church’s relationship to the Jewish people within salvation history; and how St. Paul’s language about Israel is to be interpreted in light of both tradition and contemporary history. To blur these categories — treating open questions as settled or settled teaching as optional — leaves Catholics either overconfident or confused, sometimes both."

On Monday, Owens responded to a claim from internet personality Laura Loomer, who alleged that senior Trump administration officials had informed her about plans to remove Boller from her position. 

“When they can’t win the argument, they move to censor the speaker,” Owens stated. "But they can’t censor us all. Every time they move to punish someone’s speech, more Americans and Christians awaken to the real threat to our freedom.” 

“[Boller] will be fine either way,” she added. 

In 2024, the watchdog group StopAntisemitism announced that Owens had won its "Antisemite of the Year” award, an annual poll conducted by the grassroots organization. Other contenders for the award that year included environmental activist Greta Thunberg and Twitch streamer Hasan Piker.

"Once celebrated for her unapologetic takes that catapulted her into the conservative spotlight, Owens was given platforms by prominent Jewish conservatives like Dennis Prager and Ben Shapiro," the group said in a statement at the time. 

"But after Hamas' October 7th massacre, she revealed her shocking antisemitism, leading to her departure from Shapiro's Daily Wire and condemnation from PragerU."

Owens and The Daily Wire parted ways in 2024 following a series of remarks by Owens that many condemned as antisemitic. Owens had accused Israel of genocide for its military offensive in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed over 1,200 people. 

After leaving The Daily Wire and starting her own podcast, Owens continued to attract controversy for her statements about Israel and the Jewish community. 

The media personality was accused of minimizing the experiments conducted on Jews imprisoned by the Nazis. During an episode of her podcast in July 2024, Owens claimed that most of the reports of Nazi experiments on twins sounded like “bizarre propaganda.”