Democrats cheered Mar-a-Lago raid in 2022, but now call search of Omar's home 'weaponization'
Democratic lawmakers who said in 2022 that an FBI search of former President Donald Trump's Florida home proved that no one is above the law are now calling the search of Rep. Ilhan Omar's home a political attack and an example of a weaponized Department of Justice (DOJ).
Omar was first under the DOJ's microscope in 2024 to scrutinize her finances, campaign spending and interactions with a foreign citizen, The New York Times reported in January of this year. Purportedly, that investigation stalled because of a lack of evidence, but her abode was not searched.
Federal agents with the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) division of the Department of Homeland Security searched Omar’s home in the early hours of Monday morning. HSI “executed a judicially authorized search warrant secured by the Department of Justice,” an agency spokesperson said in a statement. The spokesperson also confirmed that the raid is “part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation.”
Law enforcement focus shifts from finance to immigration
The New York Times reports that a new investigation targeting Omar was opened in recent months and centers on her immigration history. The probe is focusing, in part, on whether Omar’s late father, Nur Omar Mohamed, lied or omitted information when he sought citizenship in the United States.
If federal authorities determine that Omar's father falsified his citizenship application paperwork, it could lead to them pursuing a criminal or denaturalization case against the congresswoman because she, in turn, would have been granted citizenship from a father who was himself ineligible for naturalization.
Omar, who represents Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, also faced allegations that she married a relative — in this case, her brother — to help him remain in the country. That allegation first surfaced during her 2016 election campaign for a seat in the Minnesota House of Representatives. At the same time, allegations emerged that when she married her second husband she was still married to her first. Omar denied the allegations, telling Minnesota Public Radio that the statements were "absurd and offensive," and Omar’s campaign vehemently denied them.
Just the News filed a Freedom of Information Act request in January seeking the records pertaining to any investigations conducted by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement into such allegations. ICE refused to turn over the records, citing a legal exemption for ongoing investigations.
Democrats changing their tune: A new song
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., and Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., issued a joint statement calling the search “deeply disturbing.” It said the search "raises serious questions about the continued corrupt weaponization of the federal government against Donald Trump's adversaries.”
Omar herself called the raid “an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said Trump “is abusing his power to go after political opponents weeks before an election.”
Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, called it an “outrageous escalation in the President's continued weaponization of our government.” He added: “Searching a Representative's home over a decades-old immigration filing by her father is an authoritarian abuse of power.”
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., called the raid “disturbing” and urged “any decent American” to “stand up and speak out.”
What Democrats said in 2022: "No one is above the law"
When the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago in August 2022 as part of a Justice Department investigation into allegations that then-former President Trump mishandled classified documents, Democrats were singing the opposite tune.
For example, Khanna told MSNBC that day that “the FBI doesn't just go in unless a judge signs off on a search warrant,” which “means they have some probable evidence about possible wrongdoing.” He added, the search gave him “confidence that the Justice Department is really pursuing this thoroughly, objectively, and in a non-political way.”
Then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said: “We believe in the rule of law. No person is above the law.”
Other lawmakers echoed this sentiment. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said “no one is above the law,” including former presidents. Then-Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., said the Justice Department “must fully investigate” Trump's “potentially grave mishandling of classified information.”
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said in an NPR interview that month that anyone else holding top-secret documents at a private residence “would be in serious legal jeopardy” and that the outcome “shouldn't be different merely because you were the former president.” He also said “we don't know the full facts of how they got there.”
Many were more blunt. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., wrote on Twitter that “Donald Trump should be in jail.”
When Trump was indicted in the case in June 2023, Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., issued a joint statement saying “no one is above the law” and urging that the case proceed through the courts without outside interference.
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