Representative Ilhan Omar have seized her phone and issued more than a dozen grand jury subpoenas, including to some of her relatives, according to reports. The moves escalate a probe into her immigration paperwork as President Donald Trump renews attacks on her citizenship just weeks before the midterm elections. The latest developments come two days after federal agents searched the Democrat's Washington, D.C.-area home and a day after Washington, D.C., U.S.
Attorney Jeanine Pirro confirmed a separate investigation into the congresswoman’s financial disclosures, as Newsweek previously reported. The Department of Justice told Newsweek that the October 12 search was part of “an ongoing federal criminal investigation” and confirmed that Homeland Security Investigations agents had executed a judicially authorized search warrant in Washington. Newsweek reached out to Omar’s campaign for comment via email Wednesday night.
The subpoenas were issued by a grand jury gathering evidence in Minnesota as federal authorities investigate potential fraud involving Omar’s immigration paperwork, according to a person briefed on the probe who spoke to the (AP) on condition of anonymity. The investigation led federal agents to search Omar’s Washington-area residence. The scope of the probe remains unclear, though Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has suggested that authorities are examining potential crimes related to Omar’s family immigration paperwork, according to the AP.
Omar has not been publicly charged with a crime in connection with the investigation. On Tuesday, Pirro said that “there are several investigations going on” related to Omar, confirming that her office was also investigating the congresswoman’s financial disclosures. Authorities have not publicly established if the financial investigation and immigration-related criminal probe are connected.
The investigations come amid renewed attacks from Trump, who has repeatedly questioned Omar’s background and called for scrutiny of her immigration history. At a rally in Youngstown, Ohio, on Monday, the president criticized Omar’s Somali origins and questioned her right to invoke the U.S. She comes in from a country without laws, without police, without military,” Trump said, prompting members of the crowd to chant “deport.” On Tuesday, Trump called Omar a “terrible person” and a “terrible congresswoman.” He also declined to take a position on whether he wanted her deported.
Omar arrived in the United States as a refugee and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2000. She has represented Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District since 2019 and is seeking reelection in November. The administration’s scrutiny of her immigration history has centered in part on a longstanding allegation that she married her brother to facilitate his entry into the United States.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
