Omar's Lawyers Demand DOJ Return Items Seized From Her Home; Department Pushes Back

Attorneys for Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, asked the Justice Department on Friday to immediately return property federal agents took from her Washington, D.C., home during a Monday search. In a letter, they argued the search was “neither justified nor lawful,” according to The Associated Press, which obtained the document. The Wall Street Journal first reported on it.

The Justice Department rejected the claims. The dispute is unfolding weeks before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, in which Omar is on the ballot.

What Omar's attorneys are arguing

The letter calls the investigation, which stems from an immigration fraud inquiry, a baseless and politically motivated effort to target one of President Donald Trump's prominent critics in Congress. Omar's lawyers wrote that there is no legitimate basis to suggest she broke any law related to her citizenship status. They also said the probe violates her constitutional rights and threatens the separation of powers.

The attorneys also accused the Justice Department of breaking a longstanding agency policy meant to avoid influencing elections. The AP reported that the department has historically tried to avoid public investigative steps involving a candidate within 60 days of a primary or general election. In addition, the lawyers raised concerns about whether investigators followed every instruction from the magistrate judge who approved the search.

Besides seeking the return of her belongings, the letter demands that the department preserve any audio and video recorded during the search.

What the Justice Department says

Department spokesperson Emily Covington said in a Friday evening text message that the letter was “riddled with false allegations and inaccuracies.” She said department attorneys and law enforcement partners complied with all court orders and legal obligations. She did not address the specific claims in the letter, according to the reports.

Trump told reporters hours after the search that he had nothing to do with it and that it is up to the Justice Department. According to the Guardian, he also said he has always found Omar to be crooked but that this has no connection to him. Days before the search, the AP reported, Trump spoke disparagingly of Omar's country of origin at a rally in Tennessee and suggested that Vice President JD Vance and others were investigating her.

What is known about the investigation

The scope of the probe is unclear. A person briefed on it told the AP that agents seized Omar's phone and that more than a dozen grand jury subpoenas have been issued, including to some of her relatives.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has suggested authorities were looking at potential crimes tied to her family's immigration paperwork. Fox News, citing sources close to the investigation, reported that the search concerned a criminal fraud inquiry related to that paperwork, which Omar's father filled out when she was a child. Washington's U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro has said there are several investigations related to Omar and that her office is examining issues involving the lawmaker's financial disclosures.

The inquiry follows years of unsubstantiated claims from Trump and conservative media figures that Omar's ex-husband is actually her brother and that she married him for immigration purposes, the Guardian reported. Omar has denied the allegations and has called them lies. According to her lawyers, she became a lawfully naturalized U.S. citizen in 2000. Her House biography says she fled Somalia's civil war as a child and spent years in a refugee camp in Kenya before coming to the United States.

After the search, Omar said on X that she was fine and described the action as an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement.

What's at stake

For voters, the case raises questions about how federal investigations are handled close to an election. Democrats condemned the search quickly, citing the department's practice of avoiding public steps involving candidates in the weeks before a vote. The Justice Department says it followed all court orders and legal obligations.

For Omar, the immediate issue is whether her phone and other items are returned and whether the recordings from the search are preserved. The letter did not say what the lawyers would do if the department refuses. The Justice Department has not publicly said what, if anything, it will return or whether it will bring charges.

Sources: ABC News, The Guardian