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Obama Condemns DOJ Raid on Omar's Home
· Confirmed
In Short: Former President Barack Obama condemned the Justice Department's raid on Rep. Ilhan Omar's home, calling it an effort to intimidate her.
Former President Barack Obama condemned the Justice Department's raid on Rep. Ilhan Omar's home, calling it a transparent effort by the Trump administration to intimidate her.
Obama said the raid was an effort to use the full weight of the federal government against a law-abiding elected official because she had dared to criticize the president.
The raid occurred last week when agents from the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) unit searched Omar’s home in Washington, D.C.
Multiple sources familiar with the probe told NewsNation that potential DNA evidence is critical to the investigation into Omar.
Investigators seized Omar’s cellphone and have subpoenaed her family members in a case that reportedly centers on whether Omar or her father lied about her age in her naturalization application.
Along with the immigration probe, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro revealed this week that her office has opened a financial investigation into Omar, perhaps picking up an investigation that the Biden administration had started into her reported multimillion-dollar net worth.
The timing of the search alarmed Justice Department veterans because it fell so close to the midterm elections and occurred during a federal holiday.
Obama noted that Omar immigrated to the United States with her father at age 12 and became a U.S. citizen when her father was naturalized.
Obama suggested that the reason Omar is facing an investigation is that she is a critic of the Trump administration.
The former president noted that it’s not the first time the Trump Justice Department has gone after perceived political enemies, including New York Attorney General Letitia James, Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook, and former FBI Director James Comey.
Omar's office said in a statement that the raid by Trump’s DHS is an outrageous abuse of power and an unprecedented escalation in the weaponization of federal law enforcement to target political enemies.
What this adds
The raid prompted investigators to collect garbage from Omar’s home in an effort to obtain her DNA.
Former President Obama emphasized that if this becomes the new normal, there’s no reason to believe it will stop with Omar or that future presidents, in either party, won’t do the same.
The raid has led to Omar's life being turned upside down, her legal bills piling up, and her being forced to spend time fighting unsubstantiated charges instead of serving the people of Minnesota.
Background
Former President Barack Obama condemned the Justice Department's raid on Rep. Ilhan Omar's home, calling it an effort to intimidate her.
Federal agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) raided Rep. Ilhan Omar's Washington, D.C., home on Monday, as part of a criminal investigation into her immigration status.
What's confirmed
- Former President Barack Obama on Sunday condemned federal agents’ raid on the Washington, D.C., home of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., calling it a “transparent” effort by the Trump administration to “intimidate” her.
- The timing of the search alarmed Justice Department veterans because it fell so close to the midterm elections and occurred during a federal holiday.
- The Justice Department has not revealed evidence against her.
- Obama noted that Omar, a U.S. representative for Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, immigrated to the United States with her father at age 12.
- When she turned 17, Omar’s father became a naturalized citizen, which gave Omar automatic citizenship by descent.
- “In those cases, the prosecutions either stalled or were dismissed for having no basis in law, and the same is likely to happen in this case,” said Obama.
- “It is a basic principle of American democracy that the government can’t selectively target individuals simply because of their political beliefs or what they say. But that’s exactly what the Trump Administration is doing to Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota,” Obama wrote in a lengthy social media post.
- “[It] has led the president to repeatedly single her out as someone who he believes does not belong in this country,” said Obama.
- Ilhan Omar and called the Justice Department’s investigation into the congresswoman “appalling”.
- The former president noted that it’s not the first time the Trump Justice Department has gone after his perceived political enemies, including New York Attorney General Letitia James, Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook, and former FBI Director James Comey.
- As theGrio previously reported, federal agents raided Omar’s home in Washington, D.C., in connection with the investigation into whether the congresswoman violated immigration laws prior to becoming a U.S. citizen.
- “I’m not going to get ahead of the bureau or HSI, but I’ve been told they have a strong case, and we’ll let the evidence lead where it leads,” Homan told Fox News.
What's still developing
- “They asked me questions that related to issues of [Omar’s] immigration and naturalization and also questions related to her father, which would bear on the same issue,” Johnson told NewsNation.
- Powerline Blog was one of the first online news sources to publish allegations of immigration fraud by Omar, including the claim that she married her brother to help him more quickly secure naturalized American citizenship.
- Relatives of the lawmaker have been named in some of the subpoenas issued by federal prosecutors, NewsNation has reported. [Emphasis added] Another report from NewsNation details how Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents had been looking into Omar for months before the raid last week.
- "Of course, if you support Abdul El Sayed, you’d support Ilhan Omar. Obama was the original booster of the Muslim Brotherhood (and the regime in Iran) in US politics. We continue to deal with those repercussions."
- "The Department is focused on restoring law and order and keeping Americans safe." Trump has denied involvement in the investigation, previously telling reporters that the matter was up to the Justice Department.
- "Spare me the lecture, Barack." "No one investigated more perceived ‘enemies’ of the administration than Obama did," political commentator Matthew Brodsky posted on X.
- A spokesperson for the Department of Justice told several media outlets that officers from a division of the Department of Homeland Security had carried out a court-approved search warrant obtained by the Justice Department.
- "For a decade, Donald Trump has relentlessly targeted Congresswoman Ilhan Omar with inflammatory rhetoric, repeatedly putting a target on her back. Now, those attacks have escalated to a pointless federal raid. The Congresswoman has done nothing wrong. No president should be able to use the power of the federal government to intimidate his political enemies."
- Additionally, Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for the District of Washington, D.C., announced her office was investigating Omar's financial disclosures, which had previously been subject to public scrutiny and congressional oversight, but never by authorities.
- "Both of them are part of a deliberate scheme to ‘decolonize’ America by uprooting its western and Christian roots." "This is the same guy whose IRS went after Tea Party groups," conservative influencer Gunther Eagleman posted on X.
- "The original community organizer rushes to the defense of one of his protégés," conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza posted on X.