Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar is fighting back against the Trump administration’s search of her home earlier this week – disputing its legality and demanding the return of her property seized by federal agents.
Omar’s attorneys sent a letter Friday, obtained by CNN, to prosecutors at the Justice Department, saying, “This vindictive, retributive, and politically motivated criminal investigation into one of the President’s chief congressional critics violates Representative Omar’s constitutional rights and threatens the separation of powers.”
The administration pushed for an unusually aggressive search of Omar’s Washington, DC-area house in an immigration fraud probe that targets the congresswoman, possible false statements made on government documents, and a potential conspiracy, according to multiple people familiar with the investigation. Federal officers executed a search warrant early Monday after a federal magistrate judge signed off on the warrant, while limiting how the Justice Department could access her documents. Omar has been the persistent target of ire from President Donald Trump’s administration.
Omar sought to dismantle the basis of the probe, saying she became a lawfully naturalized citizen in 2000 after fleeing Somalia in 1995.
“There is no legitimate basis for any suggestion that she has violated any law concerning her citizenship status,” Omar’s attorneys, Amy Jeffress and Joshua Matz, wrote in the letter to federal prosecutors. They also demanded that all video and audio recordings made by federal agents during the search be preserved.
Spokespeople for the Justice Department didn’t immediately respond to inquiries from CNN about the accusations Omar’s lawyers made.
Omar’s attorneys pointed out a number of issues with how the search of Omar’s home was conducted. They said the House of Representatives’ Office of General Counsel was not notified about the search until after it was publicly reported. The judge in Washington had mandated special procedures about giving notice to the House and to Omar and her attorneys about her Constitutional protections as a member of Congress, the letter said. Omar’s defense attorneys indicated the investigators may have infringed on the congresswoman’s rights by not following the judge’s parameters.
There also was no one from the US attorney’s office or the Justice Department at the search to read Omar her privileges under the Speech or Debate Clause, according to the letter, and instead Omar was presented with a waiver that she did not sign. Omar’s attorneys also alleged they did not have the opportunity to identify or segregate materials that were protected under the clause.
The search “arose from a years-old, tired conspiracy theory,” Omar’s attorneys wrote, also pointing out the search was conducted less than three weeks before Election Day.
“Historically, the Department has refrained from this type of investigative activity so close to an election, so as to avoid even the appearance of politically motivated law enforcement actions. But the political motivations behind this pre-election investigation and search are clear as day. For the reasons given above, this search was neither justified nor lawful,” they wrote in the letter, first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Jeffress and Matz noted that Omar was repeatedly referred to by her first name in the search warrant paperwork and called on the agents to respect the congresswoman with her proper title going forward.
Katelyn Polantz contributed to this report.
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