Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., on Wednesday described in detail for the first time the early morning search of her home last week by federal agents, revealing that she could no longer live there due to security concerns.
In an interview with MS NOW, Omar said she and her husband were initially surprised and confused by the arrival of agents from Homeland Security Investigations, who began knocking on their doors and screaming at 6 a.m. on October 12.
“Well, I mean, you don’t show up at someone’s house that early in the morning unless you’re trying to freak them out, and, you know, that obviously freaked us all out,” Omar said.
Federal agents searched Omar’s home as part of a criminal investigation that alarmed Justice Department veterans who cited the proximity of the midterm elections. A person familiar with the investigation told NBC News that possible charges against Omar include conspiracy and making false statements in immigration documents.
Omar told MS NOW that she had “only slept 2 1/2 hours” when officers arrived since she returned home from an early morning trip.
“It was, you know, trying to understand, like you’re dreaming, this strange thing that’s happening,” Omar said. “But basically, they surrounded the house. They were banging, banging on the back door and the front door.”
She said she and her husband shouted to try to convey that they were going downstairs momentarily as they rushed to get dressed. Omar added that one of his three children, his 20-year-old son, was also at the residence.
“I thought something was on fire. I thought something was happening to the neighbor,” Omar said, adding that she was particularly confused when she saw HSI agents at the door because they often focus on issues like human trafficking, drugs, cybersecurity and terrorism.
“Them being at my house so early in the morning, you know, was so weird,” she said. “I was like, ‘Why are you here?’”
Omar said officers presented her with a warrant at the door after she asked to see one. They then asked her to sign a document that would waive certain rights she enjoys as a member of Congress, Omar said, adding that she refused to sign it.
Under the Speech or Debate Clause of the Constitution, members of Congress are protected from civil and criminal liability related to their legislative acts.
Omar said during the interview that officers took 17 items from her home, including old phones belonging to her and one of her daughters. Seizing a sitting member of Congress’ phone typically triggers a set of law enforcement protocols to ensure compliance with the Speech or Debate Clause.
The search lasted “four or five hours,” Omar told MS NOW.
“I don’t think I was able to call my lawyer until about an hour after the search started,” she said. When asked what she was doing during this time, she said, “I sat on the couch, looking at the mandate, trying to make sure they stayed within the confines of what the mandate allowed them to do.” »
The Department of Homeland Security referred NBC News to the Justice Department, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Omar’s account of the search.
In addition to the phones, Omar said, agents took several items belonging to her husband, Tim Mynett, including a camera passed down to him from his uncle, a Somali phrase book he used to learn the language and his notebooks.
Omar said that, according to the receipt given to her after the search, she does not believe the officers took anything with her DNA. She also said she was not asked to provide a DNA sample.
Overall, Omar said, the officers “mostly conducted themselves in a decent manner.”
“They did a really good job of putting everything back where it was,” Omar said. “In fact, they even folded some of my clothes that weren’t folded. »
Omar nevertheless criticized the federal investigation.
“The people who knocked on my door looking for papers literally have his papers,” Omar said, referring to the papers filed by his late father. “They were the ones who brought us to the United States. »
She said that after the search, she could no longer live at home in Washington.
“Obviously I can’t continue living there because our address has been made public,” Omar said. “And with the death threats that I’m facing, it’s no longer going to be possible to be in this house and have my children, for example, visit and have people follow them.”
Omar rejected President Donald Trump’s insistence that he had “nothing to do” with the investigation.
“I mean, he has everything to do with it,” she said. “You know, this goes back to 2019 when he was yelling about how, you know, I need to be fired, I need to be deported.
Omar has been a frequent target of Trump since his first term. He called her “trash,” accused her of fraud and called for her expulsion.
Omar said she felt “confident in my truth” and again denied the allegations against her.
“How could these people be more obvious? You know, it’s like you could at least feel like it wasn’t fictitious,” Omar said. “But they blatantly chose to have everyone involved be someone who explicitly expressed that they didn’t want me to be in the United States.”
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