*Federal prosecutors wanted sweeping access to Rep. Ilhan Omar‘s Washington home. They did not get it without a fight.
Before approving Monday’s search warrant, Judge Matthew Sharbaugh of the DC District Court went back and forth with the Justice Department over how much it could take, according to multiple people familiar with the investigation. The exchange had not been reported until now, CNN is reporting.
The sticking point was Omar’s status as a member of Congress.
Sharbaugh told prosecutors they could not simply walk off with everything, and he required them to set up a process for screening records so her legislative work stayed out of investigators’ hands.
DC courts have long read the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause to shield lawmakers’ legislative materials.
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The Inquiry Targeting Omar
The probe touches Omar personally. Investigators are examining whether she or her late father misrepresented her age when she became a citizen in 2000, allegedly claiming she was a minor when she was already an adult. Omar came to the US as a Somali refugee at around 12 and naturalized in 2000.
One source told CNN the government may try to broaden this into a conspiracy case, looking at whether a larger group carried out years of deliberate falsification. At least a dozen subpoenas went out starting last Friday, mostly to relatives.
This is not a new investigation. Omar has faced criminal scrutiny for years, including before Trump took office. What changed is the intensity. The current administration believes she made repeated false statements on government forms, including a passport, in recent years. That belief produced Monday’s search.
Omar’s Response
Omar (Democrat, Minnesota) did not stay quiet. She called the search a political attack driven by animus from Trump and Republicans.
“This is an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement,” she wrote Monday on social media. “For ten years, Trump has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns. This is just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation.”
She denies wrongdoing and has not been charged. Her attorney did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Investigators are also revisiting an unsubstantiated claim that her ex-husband, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, was her brother, a step allegedly taken to secure him citizenship. Trump has repeated the claim. Omar calls it a “bigoted lie.” Even if true, the statute of limitations has long expired, and it is unclear what role it plays now.
Timing and Political Entanglement
The search landed less than a month before voting ends, while Omar campaigns for reelection in Minnesota, where ballots are already being cast. Justice Department practice generally avoids overt investigative moves within 60 days of an election. Here, top officials signed off anyway.
The case, reopened last year, is now run by prosecutors in the deputy attorney general’s office and the US attorney’s office in Minneapolis, with the DC US attorney’s office also involved. That last office is separately examining possible financial misconduct, including campaign finance issues.
DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro told Fox News on Tuesday that Omar’s financial disclosures are “the subject of an investigation as well.” She added, “We’re looking at the facts. Based upon the facts we will follow them wherever they take us.”
White House border czar Tom Homan has discussed the Omar investigation repeatedly on Fox News. In a September interview, he said, “If someone committed immigration violation, someone committed marriage fraud or anything like that, regardless if they’re a congressman or not, no one’s above the law.”
Why the Judge’s Ruling Matters
The judge’s demand for a screening process may slow any case built on Omar’s own records, and it has intensified questions about whether the Justice Department is pursuing a political target. Judges in the DC District Court have grown more skeptical of the administration’s handling of Constitutional protections in politically charged matters.
The line Sharbaugh drew is the real story here. Even in a probe this charged, a court insisted that a lawmaker’s legislative work is not fair game for prosecutors. That boundary is what separates investigation from weaponization.
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