Carrie Prejean Boller accused of hijacking antisemitism hearing with Palestinian flag

The Trump administration swiftly removed Carrie Prejen Boller, a former Miss California winner, from a White House religious council amid accusations she worked to “hijack” a hearing on antisemitism, earning applause from religious leaders and conservatives. 

“Carrie Prejean was thrown off the Religious Liberty Commission, and thank God,” a former Trump White House official told Fox News Digital in reaction to the ouster. “These commissions exist to advance the President’s agenda, not to serve as a personal Jew-hating platform.” 

Prejean Boller was ousted from the White House Religious Liberty Commission after she worked to “hijack a hearing” held Monday regarding antisemitism in the U.S. to promote her “own personal and political agenda on any issue,” according to chair of the commission, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. 

Prejean Boller is the 2009 Miss California USA winner who was stripped of her crown over allegations of breaching contract. She gained nationwide attention in 2009 for speaking out against legalizing gay marriage from the pageant’s stage. 

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Trump owned the Miss Universe Organization at the time and defended Prejean Boller, then Carrie Prejean. 

Trump established the religious liberty commission in May via an executive order directing the Department of Justice to provide support to the newly formed body focused on upholding “Federal laws that protect all citizens’ full participation in a pluralistic democracy, and protect the free exercise of religion.”

The commission held a hearing Monday at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., on combating antisemitism and upholding religious freedom, where Prejean Boller wore a Palestinian flag pin and got into tense exchanges. 

Prejean Boller converted to Catholicism from evangelical Christianity in April and invoked her Catholic faith in comments rejecting Zionism during the hearing. 

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“I am a Catholic, and Catholics don’t embrace Zionism,” she said. 

Catholic League President Bill Donohue swiftly called for her ouster in an opinion piece published on his organization’s website, underscoring that she did not represent Catholics in her remarks. 

“Prejean Boller is a former Miss California and a convert to Catholicism,” he wrote Wednesday. “She does not run a Catholic organization, has no Catholic credentials as an author or instructor, and indeed represents no one but herself. For her to say, without qualification, that ‘Catholics do not embrace Zionism,’ is presumptuous and arrogant.”

“Zionism is a movement that promotes Jewish self-determination in a homeland,” he said. “There are millions of Catholics like myself who, even if they do not identify themselves as Zionists, recognize the Jewish state of Israel. Prejean Boller apparently does not—she is more comfortable showing up at the Religious Liberty Commission wearing a Palestinian flag pin. So telling.” 

Shawn Carney, president and CEO of 40 Days for Life pro-life group, added in comment to Fox Digital that her “claim that Catholics are against Jews is absurd.”

“This division is a recent fad and an online invention,” Carney said. “For centuries, Catholics have understood that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the Davidic kingdom and that our faith comes from the Jews. Catholic teaching holds that the Church is the fulfillment of the promises of the Old Covenant. To suddenly claim that Catholics are against Jews is absurd — it is a modern, internet-based error.” 

He added that Trump has a very strong track record of hiring and appointing Catholics to his administration, noting “no president in modern history has done more to protect religious liberty for both Catholics and Jews.”

At one point, Prejean Boller got into a heated exchange with Shabbos Kestenbaum, a former Harvard student who sued the university over its response to antisemitism.

“Are you willing to condemn what Israel has done in Gaza?” Prejean Boller asked Kestenbaum during the hearing. “You won’t condemn that? Just on the record.”

She also defended Candace Owens when pressed by Babylon Bee Founder and CEO Seth Dillon if the commentator had ever made antisemitic remarks. 

“Do you think anything Candace has said is antisemitic?” he asked her, after referring to Owens as one of the “most famous antisemites” in the current political landscape. 

“No, I don’t,” Prejean Boller replied.

The former Trump White House official continued in comment to Fox Digital that backing Israel has long been a priority for President Donald Trump. 

“President Donald Trump has been clear for decades that he stands proudly with the Jewish people and with America’s closest ally, Israel,” the former official said. “Supporting Israel and standing with Jewish Americans is not just morally right, it is America First.” 

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“President Trump delivered historic victories for the Jewish people. He recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moved the U.S. Embassy there. He recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. He brokered the Abraham Accords and reshaped the Middle East. He kept his promise to bring every last hostage home and made clear that antisemitism at home will be confronted head on, including holding universities accountable when Jewish students are targeted.”

Conservatives and others on social media celebrated her ouster while condemning her remarks at the hearing. 

“The only one who brought up Zionism at the event was … Carrie Prejean Boller,” account Bonchie posted. “Classic grifter play happening here. Cause a scene of her own making, claim to be the victim, profit. A story as old as time.”

“Whatever you think of the rest of Carrie Prejean Boller’s views, wearing a Palestinian flag to a hearing on religious liberty is disgraceful,” president of WorldStrat information warfare firm and chief editor of the Middle East Forum Jim Hanson posted. 

Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said that while he does not personally know Prejean Boller, what he saw of her actions was “just sad.”

“There are 57 Muslim countries on earth; this poor thing has been deluded into thinking that the fact that Israel exists — in the promised land given to the Jewish people thousands of years ago by Jehovah — is somehow the source of all her troubles.” he wrote.  “And no, Catholics don’t hate Israel. As Charlie Kirk said repeatedly, antisemitism is a brain rot, and someone has been pouring this poison into her head.”

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Patrick said he personally made the decision to remove her, while Prejean Boller responded on X that only the president could order her removal. 

“You did not appoint me to the Commission, and you lack authority to remove me from it,” Prejean Boller wrote on X in response to Patrick. “This is a gross overstepping of your role and leads me to believe you are acting in alignment with a Zionist political framework that hijacked the hearing, rather than in defense of religious liberty.” 

Cruz shot back on X: “Let’s be clear: it was President Trump who fired her.”

The former Miss California has continued to stick by her remarks, saying she “will never bend the knee to the state of Israel. Ever.”

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“Christians have been manipulated into believing that God blesses bombing, starvation, and mass killing,” Prejean posted to X. “That is the opposite of Christ, who came to stand with the suffering and confront power. I reject that lie completely. I am not owned by money, donors, or access. I belong to Christ alone who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. I would rather die than bend the knee to Israel.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for additional comment on the matter Thursday, and attempted to reach Prejean Boller Friday for comment.