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Ilhan Omar Says Trump Administration Raid Sought To Intimidate Her Ahead Of Midterms
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Federal agents searched Ilhan Omar's Washington, D.C. home Oct 12 in immigration-related probe. Omar says the raid aimed to intimidate and silence her ahead of midterms.
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Raid, threats, and move
Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar said she cannot remain in her Washington, D.C. home after a raid by the Internal Security Investigations Department, which she linked to death threats and security concerns.
Omar said she woke up at six in the morning on October 12 to violent knocking on the doors of her front and back entrances by members of the Internal Security Investigations Department, and she described the search as chaotic.
Omar said the deputy estimated that between 15 and 25 agents searched the home room by room for four to five hours, and she said authorities seized 17 items including an old phone and a camera dating back to the 1960s.
Omar said she could not contact her lawyer for an hour while she sat on the sofa staring at the search of the electronic devices, and she said she and her family were forced to look for another place to move to.
Omar said she believes President Donald Trump has “a big role in this matter,” and she said she sees the search as a political intimidation campaign driven to scare voters ahead of the midterm elections.
Omar denies fraud
Omar told Chris Hayes of MS NOW that federal agents surrounded her house in Washington, D.C. and provided a search warrant previously to go “room by room” and confiscate 17 items, including her phone and other electronic devices. Omar denied President Trump and his office claims that her father lied about his life when he obtained United States citizenship in 2000, and she accused the Trump office of tolerating, in effect, a “political intimidation campaign” against her. Omar said she woke up at 6 a.m. on October 12 and learned that federal agents had “surrounded her house” in DC, and she said the agents searched the home for four to five hours.
Omar said she feels “safe” that nothing bad will happen, and she said, “I am a person of enormous faith,” while describing her determination to keep fighting. Omar also denied knowing of any familial relation between her and her former husband, answering “Not to my knowledge” when asked whether she is related to the man.
Trump escalates pressure
President Donald Trump criticized Omar as a “sick and very dishonest person… who hates our country,” and he said, “I hope you treat her exactly, but she is a very dishonest person,” while speaking to reporters in the Oval Office.
Trump said, “Could she be deported? Well, maybe, and she could also go to prison,” and he described Omar as a “sick person, a person who is not trustworthy at all and hates our country,” pointing out that she comes from a country he described as a “real sewer.”
Omar said the raid was designed to intimidate her and frighten her out of campaigning, and she told supporters, “We’re not gonna be intimidated. We’re not gonna be silenced. We’re not gonna be scared.”
Omar said she would keep campaigning alongside supporters and vowed, “I’ll be out there campaigning alongside all of you,” while saying the goal is to win the midterms and “hold this administration accountable.”
Omar said she thanked supporters who sent $5, $10 or $20 and asked them to keep giving, and she said it will be “a very expensive and challenging time.”