Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin confirmed Thursday that his department has handed a “large case” against Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) to the Justice Department. Mullin said Homeland Security Investigations did extensive work before handing prosecutors what he called a substantial package of evidence. Omar has not been charged.
“We’re not weaponizing, we’re not using political theater on this,” Mullin said, getting ahead of the inevitable Democrat talking points. He added that enforcement doesn’t care about your party registration or your title, and that anyone who broke the law gets treated the same way. Fancy concept, right?
Prosecutors told a court this week that the federal investigation of Ilhan Omar goes well beyond the congresswoman herself. “The investigation of [the Subject and] other individuals continues,” they wrote in a filing that opposed the release of records in the case. Nobody else was named, and their possible roles weren’t described.
Agents served a second search warrant the same day they searched Omar’s Washington residence. That second warrant was executed at the home of her sister, Sahra Noor, and agents removed boxes of documents. Grand jury subpoenas have gone out to more than a dozen recipients, relatives among them, and the grand jury weighing the evidence sits in Minnesota, not Washington.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said this month that “There are several investigations going on” involving the congresswoman, and her office has opened a separate review of Omar’s financial disclosures on top of everything else. Mullin had previously said investigators expected to bring the matter before a grand jury, adding, “We had a judge sign it.” Attorney General Todd Blanche personally signed off on the warrant and attested that its timing was not meant to influence any election, even though Omar is on the ballot Tuesday.
Democrats, naturally, are losing their minds. More than 170 House Democrats signed a letter urging the Justice Department to drop the whole inquiry, pointing to a 2019 review by the first Trump administration that found insufficient evidence. That review, of course, was from seven years ago, before whatever investigators have apparently been piecing together since. Former President Barack Obama even jumped on X on October 18 to lecture everyone that “The government can’t selectively target individuals simply because of their political beliefs.” Good thing that’s not what’s happening here, Barry.
Omar has denied any wrongdoing and called the investigation politically motivated. She also continues to reject the long-running allegation that she married her brother, a claim that has never been established.
The Justice Department is now leading the investigation, the grand jury in Minnesota keeps working, and Election Day is right around the corner. One thing’s for sure: 170 Democrats writing a strongly worded letter isn’t going to make a federal grand jury pack up and go home.
