WASHINGTON — Former US President Barack Obama on Sunday condemned the raid by federal agents on the Washington home of Rep. Ilhan Omar and called the Justice Department’s investigation into the congresswoman “appalling”.
He said the investigation was apparently an attempt by the Trump administration to intimidate and deport one of the president’s most outspoken critics.
“The full weight of the federal government is being brought down on a law-abiding elected official because she has dared to criticize the president,” Obama wrote in a lengthy post on X.
The timing of the search alarmed Justice Department veterans because it fell so close to the midterm elections and occurred during a federal holiday.
The former president said the recent search of the Minnesota Democrat’s home was to “uncover a nonexistent smoking gun.”
“Now the Administration is actively trying to deport Congresswoman Omar, seemingly based solely on the unsubstantiated theory that she was actually 18 when her father was naturalized, and therefore is not a citizen,” Obama wrote. “Federal agents have raided her home, confiscated personal records, and seized her phone — all to try and uncover a nonexistent smoking gun from 20 years ago that will somehow make their case.”
The search was related to an immigration fraud probe investigating whether Omar’s father lied about her age when she obtained her US citizenship in 2000.
Obama also rebuked the administration’s apparent efforts to deport Omar, who was born in Somalia but was naturalized as a US citizen at 17 years old.
Omar has sought to dismantle the basis of the probe, saying she became a lawfully naturalized citizen in 2000 after fleeing Somalia in 1995.
“The fact that any president, or any administration, is willing to engage in such transparent efforts to intimidate someone should outrage all Americans, regardless of how they feel about Congresswoman Omar’s political views,” Obama said in his post. “Because if this becomes the new normal, there’s no reason to believe it will stop with her — or that future presidents, in either party, won’t do the same.”
While the government has not yet indicated it will attempt to strip Omar of her citizenship, Trump said in a post to Truth Social earlier this year that he’d like to see her sent to Somalia. Omar has not been charged with a crime, and the Justice Department has not revealed any evidence against her. Omar has disputed the legality of last week’s search and demanded the return of her property seized by federal agents.
Trump told reporters last week that the search “has nothing to do with me.”
“I think she’s a terrible person, but that’s really up to the DOJ. I have nothing to do with it,” he said.
Along with Obama, other prominent Democrats have defended Omar. House Democratic leaders called the search “deeply disturbing” and said it “raises serious questions about the continued corrupt weaponization of the federal government against Donald Trump’s adversaries.”
Omar, who is running for reelection, called the search “the latest escalation” in Trump’s “campaign of political intimidation.” “I will not be silenced,” she said last week in a statement on X.
The search of her home was highly unusual for its timing. Generally, the Justice Department avoids overt investigative activity that could affect an election within 60 days of Election Day, and the search occurred less than a month before voting ends.
Source: Saudi Gazette