NewzFederal agents searched the Washington, D.C., home of Minnesota Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar early Monday. Agents with Homeland Security Investigations were seen carrying boxes from the home. Omar accused the Trump administration of political intimidation.
Geoff Bennett discussed more with Devlin Barrett, a The New York Times reporter and author of "The Department of Revenge." Federal agents searched Democratic Rep. home on Monday, only three weeks before the frequent target of President Donald Trump’s criticism stands for reelection in her congressional district in Minnesota.
Here’s what to know: Is this political retribution? Trump has not been shy about wanting to use federal law enforcement to target his perceived political enemies. He’s pushed prosecutions of former FBI Director James Comey and New York’s Democratic Attorney General, Letitia James, following earlier probes the two launched against him.
Omar, a left-wing firebrand, has been a longtime target of Trump and Republicans in general. Omar was born in Somalia and is a naturalized U.S. Trump has especially targeted Somali immigrants in Minnesota, posting on social media last week that the people of the state must “fight back” against them.
The state has reeled from several federal fraud cases sometimes involving Somali-run nonprofits in Minnesota. Many of those cases were filed by former President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice. Omar has long criticized Trump, and the president has likewise gone after her repeatedly over the years.
Trump late last week alluded to possible action against the congresswoman. At a rally in Tennessee on Saturday, Trump referred pejoratively to Omar as coming from a country of “crime and squalor” and suggested that Vice President JD Vance “and our people” were investigating her. Justice Department protocol has long been to avoid legal action against politicians in the final weeks before their election.
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