Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado has now caused ill feelings on both sides of the current GOP rift over U.S. support for Israel.
The congresswoman, however, explained her behavior as a product of strong-arming and confusion, not choice.
Speaking to the website TMZ outside the Capitol on Wednesday, Boebert said that pressure from GOP staffers, coupled with a premature closing of the vote, caused her to miss a crucial vote on the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027, which included Section 219, a provision that would merge certain aspects of U.S. and Israeli defense programs.
“So, I got a whole bunch of men trying to muscle me into voting for the NDAA,” the congresswoman said in a clip posted to the social media platform X.
When asked, she replied that she did not know the men’s names. She simply referred to them as “staffers.”
She expressed reservations about the bill.
“Section 219 is still in there. It’s a big tech swap between us and Israel. We don’t do that with anyone. I understand in the past we’ve given them money for the Iron Dome and then they get to keep the tech and we don’t get any of it back, so I understand that, but it’s a big issue on the left and the right.”
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Then, she cited pressure on the opposite side coming from “constituents” — though whether those “constituents” are Republicans or Democrats or something else entirely isn’t clear.
“Many of my constituents have reached out,” she added. “They don’t want this provision in the bill.”
Then came a pair of surprising claims.
“Well,” she continued, “the White House doesn’t want it in the bill. Secretary [of War Pete] Hegseth doesn’t want it in the bill.”
This alleged opposition from Hegseth and the White House, she said, explained why she was waiting. Then, the vote was called before she thought it would be.
“So I’m in the back,” she said, “waiting for a call from the secretary. I’m told that call is coming, I’m talking to someone underneath him, and I’m told the vote’s gonna stay open. They closed the vote.”
🚨 EXCLUSIVE: TMZ DC’s @jacob_wass caught up with Rep. Lauren Boebert after she missed a key defense bill vote, and the Colorado congresswoman says unnamed GOP staffers lied to her in a backroom deal. pic.twitter.com/XoTl1q3el7
— TMZ (@TMZ) July 23, 2026
Meanwhile, also on X on Wednesday, Boebert claimed to have received Hegseth’s “commitment” that the NDAA would not go forward with Section 219.
“Today, I was in a critical national security meeting with Secretary Hegseth where I helped secure his commitment that Section 219 would be stripped from the NDAA in conference. Protecting America’s intellectual property for future generations is non-negotiable,” she wrote.
She also insisted that “[t]his isn’t the final stop and I’ll have at least one more vote on this bill after it comes out of conference. Congress still has more work to do to shape this legislation and I will continue to be a strong voice in those conversations.”
Today, I was in a critical national security meeting with Secretary Hegseth where I helped secure his commitment that Section 219 would be stripped from the NDAA in conference. Protecting America’s intellectual property for future generations is non-negotiable.
For months, I’ve…
— Rep. Lauren Boebert (@RepBoebert) July 23, 2026
The NDAA’s Section 219, The United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative, would establish a Pentagon “executive agent” charged with “synchronizing cooperative efforts between the United States and Israel, to expand and accelerate bilateral defense technology research, development, testing, evaluation, integration, and industrial cooperation.”
According to the online government watchdog GovTrack, seven Republicans voted against the NDAA on Wednesday. Republican Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona joined fellow GOP Reps. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma, Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Chip Roy of Texas, Harriet Hageman of Wyoming, and Thomas Massie of Kentucky in opposition.
“Final vote total for the NDAA today which tragically merges our military technology and supply chains with Israel’s. Let’s hope this version fails in the Senate because Section 219 is a betrayal of our sovereignty,” Massie wrote Wednesday on X.
Final vote total for the NDAA today which tragically merges our military technology and supply chains with Israel’s. Let’s hope this version fails in the Senate because Section 219 is a betrayal of our sovereignty. pic.twitter.com/FtIukTzblR
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) July 22, 2026
Massie, of course, has long acted as a thorn in President Donald Trump’s side. The Kentucky congressman, for instance, spearheaded the campaign to force the release of files pertaining to convicted sex offender and suspected sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, which Trump preferred not to discuss.
The president, in fact, backed Ed Gallrein’s successful primary challenge to Massie in May.
Boebert, meanwhile, campaigned for Massie. According to The Hill, the congresswoman’s decision drew Trump’s ire. The president even threatened to withdraw his endorsement of her.
On X, the congresswoman received criticism from users who accused her of caving to Trump.
She threw her constituents under the bus, to try to appease a man who wants her out of office.
— Cheyanne Dakota (@CheyanneDakota1) July 23, 2026
You dodged the vote on purpose. It makes you look guilty and weak
— A F (@RagnarVolares) July 23, 2026
Traitor Colorado won’t forget how you sold out your state and country
— ColMtnLife (@Derek33rd) July 23, 2026
You were gone for 1 of the most important votes that should be voted against?
Complete BS!
You were 1 who I was hanging onto, thinking ‘she’s not part of it’.. but when we really you, you were gone?!— X| HaVoK |X (@Xl_rEiGn_lX) July 23, 2026
The NDAA will now advance to the Senate. According to The Hill, a similar bill failed in the upper chamber last week.
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