Donald Trump “officially” removed a member of his Religious Liberty Commission after she participated in a combative public hearing on antisemitism last month.
Carrie Prejean Boller, the 2009 winner of Miss California USA, posted on X a brief message she said was from a presidential personnel office employee notifying her that Trump had terminated her position “effective immediately.” The president had appointed her to the post last May.
Boller, a 38-year-old Catholic convert, had defended conservative influencer Candace Owens at a February hearing that touched on antisemitism. Owens, a conspiracy theorist, had been affiliated with the Daily Wire until March 2024, after she had pushed antisemitic tropes on social media and disagreed with Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro over Israel’s war in Gaza.
Shortly after, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the commission’s chairman, said he had removed Boller.
“No member of the Commission has the right to hijack a hearing for their own personal and political agenda on any issue,” he wrote on X at the time. “This is clearly, without question, what happened Monday in our hearing on antisemitism in America. This was my decision.”
Boller claimed Patrick wasn’t authorized to remove her. Only Trump was, she said.
“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,” she wrote on X.
The White House’s letter on Thursday appears to have resolved any uncertainty about her position.
Boller, who is married with two children, then posted a six-page rebuttal which began with her saying she would have appreciated Trump letting her know about her removal directly.
“I’m shocked that the removal of the only Catholic woman on the Religious Liberty Commission was handled through a brief email from a staffer rather than a direct conversation with the President who appointed me,” she wrote. “This is the same staffer who called me back in August asking for my resignation at the behest of Zionist heretics Dan Patrick and Paula White. This is when the witch hunt against me began.”
White is the Trump-appointed head of the White House Faith Office.
“For someone who served faithfully and defended religious liberty I believe I deserved at least the basic respect of a phone call or formal letter from you,” she continued. “After all, you’re not bashful about firing people. I guess American citizens are treated with less dignity than a foreign leader accused of war crimes.”
Boller went on to suggest it was ironic that she is now “fighting for my own religious freedom while serving on the very commission created to defend the religious freedom of every American.”
“You knew exactly who I was when you appointed me,” she continued. “I may not have a prestigious title or a large organization behind my name, but I have conviction, heart, and an unwavering commitment to the Christian princples I stand for.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and the Religious Liberty Commission for comment.
