Multiple relatives of Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar received grand jury subpoenas as part of a criminal investigation into possible fraud and false statements in their immigration paperwork, sources familiar with the matter told CBS News. The subpoenas landed just days before investigators from ICE’s criminal investigative arm, Homeland Security Investigations, showed up at Omar’s Washington, D.C., home early Monday morning and walked out with her personal cell phone.
So to recap: subpoenas for the family, a search of the house, and a confiscated phone. For a congresswoman who has spent years lecturing America about fairness and justice, things are getting pretty inconvenient.
The Justice Department’s decision to take these steps so close to the midterm elections has drawn criticism, including claims that the timing may conflict with the DOJ’s own internal guidelines, which say prosecutors and agents “may never select the timing of any action” to affect an election or give a candidate an advantage or disadvantage. There’s also a customary but unwritten “60-day rule,” cited in a 2016 DOJ inspector general report, under which prosecutors generally avoid publicly disclosing investigative steps tied to electoral matters within 60 days of a primary or general election. President Trump said Monday he had “nothing to do with” the raid, though sources confirmed that Attorney General Todd Blanche was aware of the search and the Public Integrity Section was consulted, albeit a section the Trump administration largely gutted last year, leaving just two attorneys on staff.
You can the Ilhan Omar immigration probe for full details on how the search warrant itself was a whole process, requiring extended back-and-forth with a magistrate judge in Washington over how to handle legislative privilege protections under the Constitution’s Speech and Debate clause. The 2007 D.C. Circuit ruling in United States v. Rayburn House Office Building established that when investigating a sitting member of Congress, the executive branch can’t just review seized materials without letting the member screen them for legislative privilege first. The magistrate eventually ordered protocols allowing Omar and her counsel to review the materials before investigators could dig in.
And if one criminal investigation wasn’t enough, this is at least the second active probe involving Omar and her family. D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro confirmed during a Fox News interview that her office is separately investigating the valuation of several businesses owned by Omar’s husband, Tim Mynett. Financial disclosures Omar filed showed the businesses had jumped in value to somewhere between $6 million and $30 million. Omar later blamed the numbers on an accounting error and filed an amended form showing the couple’s joint assets at between $18,004 and $95,000. That’s quite a spread, even by Washington accounting standards.
Omar, never one to miss a chance at the microphone, has denied any wrongdoing and accused the Trump administration of trying to “target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement.” Some of the documents under scrutiny date back to her childhood and were completed by her late father, though it remains unclear why the government moved to execute the warrant this close to the election given that timeline.
HSI is leading both the immigration and business-valuation investigations, with the Justice Department assisting. With subpoenas served, a phone seized, a house searched, and two separate criminal probes running simultaneously, Omar’s legal calendar is looking a lot fuller than her voting record. Stay tuned.
