Sameerah Munshi, a White House Religious Liberty Commission adviser, has resigned from her position in protest of the war in Iran and the removal of Carrie Prejean Boller from the board.
Boller — a former Miss California USA who became a social media influencer — was officially removed from the board in March by President Donald Trump following complaints from Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick.
He accused Boller of trying to “hijack” a hearing on antisemitism after she questioned the definition of antisemitism and asked a Jewish member of the panel if he condemns Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Munshi confirmed her resignation in a social media post. She said she was leaving the commission due to the “official removal of Carrie Prejean Boller for her deeply held beliefs about Palestine and the federal government’s illegal war against Iran, undertaken without clear constitutional or congressional authorization.”
During the meeting that caused Boller’s ousting from the commission, the conservative influencer wore a pin featuring the American and Palestinian flags and tried to force a discussion over the definition of antisemitism and its relation to Israel.
“By not being a Zionist, does that make you an antisemite?” she asked during a commission meeting.
In another exchange at the same meeting, she noted that Israel had been brought up numerous times during the discussion, and asked PragerU political commentator Shabbos Kestenbaum if he was “willing to condemn what Israel has done in Gaza.”
Kestenbaum refused to condemn Israel for its actions in Gaza, which both the United Nations and Amnesty International have labeled a genocide.
He later wrote an open letter to Boller accusing her of abusing Trump’s trust in her by focusing on a conflict beyond the borders of the U.S. rather than focusing on domestic religious liberty issues, the Houston Chronicle reports.
On March 12, Boller announced she had been removed from the commission.
“President Trump officially removes me from the Religious Liberty Commission for exercising my Religious Liberty,” she wrote on social media.
Munshi, a Muslim member of the commission, said other members of the panel had mocked her faith and had been outwardly hostile toward the Muslim community in the U.S.
“I hesitantly accepted my appointment last year with the intention of remaining a voice of reason and standing for the religious freedom of ordinary Americans whose voices are not often heard at the highest levels of government,” she said, while also representing “Americans Muslims whose rights are sidelined.”
She insisted that she was not resigning out of fear and was not afraid of reprisals for speaking out against the panel.
“I want to be very clear: I am not resigning out of fear or intimidation from anyone affiliated with the Commission, the government, or any interest group. I am resigning because I have seen firsthand the injustice perpetrated by members of this commission, and I am unwilling to be associated with it any longer,” she wrote.
After the announcement, Boller thanked Munshi for sticking to her values.
“Thank you for choosing your principals over your position. I am honored to know you and call you friend,” she wrote.
The Council on Islamic-American Relations, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights organization, commended both Boller and Munshi for their actions.
“We commend both Carrie Prejean Boller and Sameerah Munshi for courageously using their roles with the Religious Liberty Commission to actually stand up for religious liberty,” CAIR said in a statement. “Ms. Prejean Boller and Ms. Munshi fulfilled the commission’s stated purpose by opposing all forms of anti-religious bigotry and standing up for every person’s right to express their religious beliefs, including opposition to Israel’s genocide in Gaza.”
Boller has long been a Trump supporter and a conservative. She was the subject of controversy during the 2009 Miss USA pageant when she was asked about same-sex marriage and replied that she believes “that marriage should be between a man and a woman.”
She had her crown stripped from her after the pageant for an alleged breach of contract.
Trump — who owned most of the Miss Universe Organization at the time — defended Boller. But Boller appears to have become disillusioned with the president.
“I thought MAGA stood for defending Americans who speak their convictions without fear of punishment,” she wrote in an open letter she shared on X. “Today I struggle to recognize the movement you started.”
