President Donald Trump has dismissed Carrie Prejean Boller, the spouse of former NFL quarterback Kyle Boller, from her role on the White House Religious Liberty Commission after a heated hearing on antisemitism that revealed sharp divisions within the advisory panel.
The 38-year-old former Miss California USA said she received a short email from Mary Sprowls of the Presidential Personnel Office stating her appointment was “terminated effective immediately.” Although the message was dated February 12, Boller says she only saw it in mid-March. The dismissal followed Boller’s clashes with Jewish witnesses at a February 9, 2026, hearing on antisemitism in the United States after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel that killed around 1,200 people.
At the contentious hearing, Boller asked whether opposing Zionism should be considered antisemitic and defended conservative commentator Candace Owens against claims of antisemitic language. She also questioned accounts from Jewish students who reported facing antisemitism on campus amid protests tied to the Israel-Hamas war.
“Catholics do not embrace Zionism, just so you know. So are all Catholics antisemites?” Boller asked during the session, prompting immediate objections from attendees, including Seth Dillon, CEO of The Babylon Bee, who testified that conservatives must resist a rising antisemitic strain on the right.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who chairs the commission, announced Boller’s ouster two days after the hearing. “No member of the Commission has the right to hijack a hearing for their own personal and political agenda on any issue,” Patrick wrote on social media. “This is clearly, without question, what happened on Monday in our hearing on antisemitism in America. This was my decision.”
President Trump created the Religious Liberty Commission on May 1, 2025, to advise the White House Faith Office and Domestic Policy Council on religious freedom matters. Boller was one of the initial 13 appointees to the advisory group, which Patrick chairs with Ben Carson as vice chair.
In a blistering open letter posted online after her termination, Boller accused the president of turning away from the ideals that once defined his movement. She reminded Trump that he defended her free-speech rights in 2009 when, as owner of the Miss USA pageant, he at first allowed her to keep the Miss California title despite backlash over her statement that marriage should be between a man and a woman. Trump later agreed to end her contract that June, citing “continued breach of contract issues.”
The mother of two said her commission work centered on defending religious liberty for Americans facing vaccine mandates and other constraints. She said she supported mothers denied religious exemptions and met nurses who lost jobs after refusing the COVID vaccine on religious grounds.
Boller also discussed her advocacy on Gaza, which she said stemmed from her Catholic faith. She converted to Catholicism at Easter Vigil in 2025 and said she wanted to distance herself from Christian Zionism. She claimed she spoke with students protesting Israeli government actions in Gaza who she said were exercising First Amendment rights but were being labeled terrorists and antisemites.
The controversy surrounding her removal escalated as Boller denounced what she called a “witch hunt” against her, which she alleged was driven by White House Faith Office head Paula White and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, whom she publicly called “Zionist heretics.”
In a letter addressed directly to President Trump, Boller said she was disappointed her firing arrived via a staff email rather than a personal conversation. “I stood by you when you were called every name imaginable. I wore the red MAGA hat proudly because I believed in what you were fighting for. Now, I don’t even recognize you,” she wrote.
The dismissal comes amid strains over U.S. operations in the Middle East. Boller pointed to military strikes on Iran that began in late February, which she said have led to 13 American service members killed since Operation Epic Fury started on February 28. She suggested her removal was “a prelude to the Iran war” and criticized what she described as a departure from the America First agenda.
The day after her termination became public in March, Sameerah Munshi, a Muslim adviser to the commission, resigned in protest, citing Boller’s removal and the administration’s foreign actions. The commission is also facing a federal lawsuit from progressive religious organizations that say it lacks diverse viewpoints and is composed almost entirely of conservative Christians.
The White House has issued no public comment beyond the formal termination notice. Vice President JD Vance has not publicly addressed the matter.
