LONDON: A federal judge restricted how the Justice Department could access records seized from Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Washington home before approving a search warrant, citing constitutional protections for members of Congress, CNN reported this week.
US Magistrate Judge Matthew Sharbaugh required prosecutors to create a screening process to protect Omar’s legislative work from investigators, according to multiple people familiar with the investigation.
The restrictions relate to the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause, which shields lawmakers’ legislative activities from certain government scrutiny.
The Donald Trump administration had pushed for an “unusually aggressive” search in an immigration fraud probe examining possible false statements on government documents and a potential conspiracy, CNN reported.
Federal agents searched Omar’s home early on Monday, seizing her phone, notebooks, personal computers and passport. Authorities have also issued more than a dozen grand jury subpoenas, including to some of her relatives.
The investigation centers on whether Omar or her late father, Nur Omar Mohamed, misstated her age on immigration paperwork. If she was 18 rather than 17 when her father was naturalized in 2000, she would have needed to pursue citizenship through a separate application rather than automatically through him.
Investigators are also examining unsubstantiated claims that Omar’s former husband, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, is her brother and that she married him to help him obtain citizenship.
One source told CNN that prosecutors could seek to expand the case into a broader conspiracy inquiry. But sources familiar with the matter said that even if the allegations were proven, the statute of limitations for many potential offenses may have expired.
The Justice Department confirmed the court-authorized search but has not publicly commented on the investigation or subpoenas.
Omar denounced the raid and investigation on Wednesday as “political harassment” by Trump’s administration. The US president has repeatedly questioned her citizenship and called for her deportation.
Omar arrived in the US as a Somali refugee in 1995, became a naturalized citizen in 2000 and was elected to represent Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District in 2018. She is running for reelection less than a month before voting in the midterm elections ends.
The search came amid heightened scrutiny of the Justice Department’s handling of a case involving a prominent Trump critic. CNN reported that the department had sought broad access to records kept at Omar’s home, but Sharbaugh ruled that prosecutors could not access them without protections for her legislative work.
Any criminal case relying on the seized records could face delays because of the screening process. The Washington Post reported that Trump officials scrutinized Omar in 2019 but did not find citizenship issues at the time.
