House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (Rep-R Minnesota) says Omar should be jailed and deported if fraud is proven; she has not been charged with anything.
The Justice Department says agents "complied with all court orders" when they searched the Washington home of Ilhan Omar (Rep-D Minnesota) on Monday, Oct. 12, rejecting her lawyers' claim that they broke a magistrate judge's limits.
The limits. Because Omar sits in Congress, the judge required that she first screen seized material for legislative privilege, the Constitution's shield for a lawmaker's official work, per CBS News. Agents were also to notify her and the House's lawyers and hand her and her counsel the warrant at the start.
What the lawyers allege. Their letter of Friday, Oct. 16 says the House counsel was never notified and that agents kept Omar from reaching her lawyer for more than an hour after the search began. It demands her property back, including her personal cellphone, and asks that all video and audio of the search be preserved.
The department. A spokesperson called the letter "riddled with false allegations and inaccuracies" and said: "Leaking a letter to the press right after sending it is not good faith. It is a publicity play."
The trash. NewsNation, citing unnamed sources, reports that agents collected her family's trash for DNA before the search and that more than a dozen raids ran at the same time. It cites no named official, lab result or court filing.
Emmer. He told Fox News that if fraud is proven, Omar "should probably serve time in the gray bar motel and then get the hell out of here."
Still open. No court has ruled on whether agents followed the judge's limits.
Catch up
- Oct. 12 — Homeland Security Investigations agents searched Omar's Washington home in a criminal immigration-fraud probe, 22 days before her Nov. 3 election.
- Oct. 13 — Federal prosecutor Jeanine Pirro opened a review of Omar's financial disclosures; Trump said he takes "no position" on deporting her.
- Oct. 14 — Reports said agents seized her phone and a Minnesota grand jury subpoenaed relatives over whether her age and family filings were falsified.
- Oct. 16 — Homeland Security Secretary Mullin said the case is headed to a grand jury; her lawyers demanded the seized items back.
3 earlier issues
- Federal agents search Rep. Ilhan Omar's home in a criminal immigration-fraud probe, 22 days before her election
- UpdateFederal prosecutor Jeanine Pirro opens a review of Ilhan Omar's financial disclosures a day after agents searched her home; Trump says he takes 'no position' on deporting her
- UpdateAgents seized Ilhan Omar's phone in the search of her home, and a Minnesota grand jury has subpoenaed her relatives