Federal agents search Ilhan Omar’s home as part of criminal investigation

Federal agents searched Representative Ilhan Omar’s home Monday morning as part of a criminal fraud investigation, according to reports in the Associated Press and Fox News that cited a statement from the department of justice.

A video posted by Fox showed what appeared to be law enforcement in HSI jackets at what Fox News said was Omar’s Washington DC residence.

“Today in the Washington, DC area, Homeland Security Investigations executed a judicially authorized search warrant secured by the Department of Justice. This enforcement action is part of an ongoing federal investigation,” a DoJ spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

It was unclear what the nature of the warrant was – neither Omar’s office, DoJ, the department of homeland security nor the White House immediately responded to the Guardian’s requests for comment. Fox News reported based on unnamed sources familiar with the matter that agents were examining the immigration paperwork that the congresswoman’s father filled out when she was a child.

Donald Trump and key allies have accused Omar of obtaining citizenship fraudulently, fantasizing openly about denaturalizing her and expelling her from the country.

The congresswoman has consistently denied the accusations, though Trump has repeatedly made them national news with gratuitous attacks against Omar, who along with Representative Rashida Tlaib became the United States’s first Muslim congresswoman in 2019.

But even amid a presidency known for political and legal retribution against his critics, the search of Omar’s DC home just three weeks before a crucial midterm Election Day will surely lead to new accusations that Trump is using the government for his own political ends.