In New Letter, Ilhan Omar Fights Back Against Home Search

The Wall Street Journal reported this week that the Trump administration’s investigation into Omar is aimed at building a case to strip her U.S. citizenship and ultimately deport her, and that items taken included her cellphone, notebooks, personal computers and her passport.

“There is no legitimate basis for any suggestion that she has violated any law concerning her citizenship status,” says the letter, which was viewed by the Journal. It calls the search “neither justified nor lawful” and asks that copies of any video or audio recordings made in the home be shared.

It also suggests the search was conducted in a manner that didn’t follow the authorizing magistrate’s specific instructions, including that the U.S. House’s general counsel was to be notified ahead of the search warrant’s execution.

The letter states Omar and her lawyers weren’t given a copy of the warrant before the search, as had been required by the judge. It says she made numerous efforts to contact counsel at the start of the search, but the agents prevented her from doing so for more than an hour.

A Justice Department spokeswoman said the letter was “riddled with false allegations and inaccuracies. Our attorneys and law enforcement partners complied with all court orders and legal obligations, as they always do.”

Jeanine Pirro—the U.S. attorney in Washington who said her office is conducting the part of the probe related to the congresswoman’s finances—defended the search earlier this week, saying it passed the muster of a federal judge “who is cognizant of the Fourth Amendment rights of any target.”

“That judge would not have signed that warrant unless there was probable cause,” Pirro said on Fox News. 

Omar’s lawyers allege prosecutors have abused the grand jury process by issuing subpoenas in Washington and her home state of Minnesota. The Journal reported Wednesday that more than a dozen subpoenas have been issued, including to some of Omar’s relatives.

“This vindictive, retributive, and politically motivated criminal investigation into one of the president’s chief congressional critics violates Representative Omar’s constitutional rights and threatens the separation of powers,” the letter says.

The search took place three weeks before November’s midterm elections, in which Omar is seeking a fifth term. The Justice Department traditionally tries to forgo public investigative steps involving political candidates within 60 days of an election, to avoid the appearance of partisan influence. Justice Department officials have denied violating any policy.

The letter takes note of the violation of that tradition. “This search—which arose from a years-old, tired conspiracy theory concerning conduct stretching back decades—violated longstanding Justice Department policy concerning interference in elections,” it says.

Omar, who sent out fundraising solicitations the day after the search, has seen a significant windfall to her campaign coffers this week, according to a person familiar with her fundraising. At least some of that money is expected to pay for her legal fees in connection with the search.

Omar, 44 years old, has long been a top target for attacks from Trump and conservatives, as well as GOP-led congressional investigations. A massive welfare-fraud scandal in Minnesota—tied to her fellow Somali immigrants—added fuel to the fire.

Born in Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1982 into an affluent family, Omar arrived in the U.S. in the 1990s. After initially settling in the suburbs of Washington, her family moved to Minnesota as she entered high school.