Ilhan Omar Resurfaces After the Raid on Her D.C. Home With a Fundraising Video and No Mention of the Investigation
In a selfie clip posted Tuesday night, Omar thanked donors, said she will be back on the campaign trail, and accused Trump of trying to intimidate her. She did not address the immigration-fraud probe directly.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., has spoken in public for the first time since federal agents searched her Washington home, and she used the moment to ask for money.
Fox News reports that Omar posted a campaign video Tuesday night, shot from the back seat of a vehicle. "I just wanted to say thank you so much for the support, to everyone who sent a note of support, for everyone who sent $5, $10, $20," she said. She added: "Please continue to support us. It's going to be a very expensive and challenging time."
What she said about the probe. Not much. According to Fox, Omar did not address the investigation or the search directly. She said the money "goes a long way as we fight Trump and his administration for trying to intimidate me and so many people right before the midterm elections," and "We're not going to be intimidated. We're not going to be silenced. We're not going to be scared." She said she will campaign "alongside all of you" and aims to "win the House, win the Senate, and hold this administration accountable." In a statement last week she called the search "an outrageous abuse of power" and said she "has done nothing wrong."
The investigation. Homeland Security Investigations agents searched Omar's D.C. home last Monday as part of a probe into possible immigration fraud, Fox reports. Authorities are looking at whether Omar or her father lied on paperwork that helped her gain citizenship. Border czar Tom Homan has said she could be denaturalized if the allegations are proven. No charges have been announced.
Trump's comments. Speaking in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump said that if the claims are true, "she could also go to jail." "They keep talking about deportation. No, she could go to jail," he said. Those are the president's remarks about a case that has not produced charges.
Where she has been. Fox says Omar had not been seen publicly since before the search, and that some people speculated she had left the country. Fox notes reports say her passport and phone were among items seized. Her husband, Tim Mynett, has been seen outside the home, and Fox says her sister, Sahra Noor, spoke with federal investigators last week. Omar is scheduled to appear Monday in Minneapolis at a live show with streamer Hasan Piker.