00:01U.S. federal agents have just raided the home of one of President Donald Trump's most prominent
00:08critics. On Monday, agents searched the home of Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. It's part of
00:15an ongoing criminal investigation, according to the Justice Department. But the timing is raising
00:21eyebrows. That's because it's just weeks before the U.S. midterm elections, as Omar campaigns
00:28for another term in Congress and after years of public attacks from Trump and other senior
00:34Republicans. The nature of the investigation is still unclear and no charges have been announced.
00:40The raid has sparked questions as to whether this is a standard law enforcement action or what critics
00:45are calling an act of political persecution. But before we get into all that, here's a little bit
00:51more about Ilhan Omar. She is one of the most recognisable figures on the American left,
00:58the Minnesota Democrat, came to the U.S. as a refugee from Somalia. A naturalised U.S. citizen,
01:04she became one of the first Muslim women elected to Congress and, as I said, has long been a frequent
01:10target of attacks and derision from Donald Trump and his allies. The prominent progressive represents
01:17a safe Democratic district and won re-election in 2024 by a margin of 50 percentage points.
01:25This is how she reacted to the raid on X. For 10 years, Trump has targeted me with baseless lies
01:32and
01:33smear campaigns. This is just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation.
01:38I will not be silenced. We asked our Washington correspondent Benjamin Averes-Gruber to give his
01:45assessment of the raid. A sitting member of the U.S. Congress is now under federal investigation
01:50after authorities raided the home of a Democratic congresswoman, Ilhan Omar. There was strong
01:57criticism not only by her, but also by the Democratic Party and especially by the progressive wing.
02:04She has been targeted by President Trump and his allies for many years now. President Trump has been
02:10focusing on her Somali origin. He even is called to deport her, even though Omar is a U.S. citizen.
02:19This happens only a couple of weeks ahead of the U.S. midterms. And while critics are slamming this
02:25home raid, calling this intimidation, the supporters of President Trump are saying that no one is above the law
02:31and that authorities should be able to do the job. Investigators have not said yet what is the reason
02:37for this home raid here in Washington, D.C., in the U.S. Capitol. But we've heard from U.S.
02:44media reports
02:44that this dates back to her documents of her immigration case. She has been a U.S. citizen for decades
02:50now.
02:51But President Trump and his allies have been slamming that and accusing her also of being part of a
02:57corruption scheme without offering any evidence. Ethan Behrman is an attorney and adjunct professor
03:05at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. It's great to see you again, Ethan.
03:10Wonderful to be on with you. Thank you. Now, we don't know much about this yet,
03:16but we do know that federal agents searched Ilhan Omar's home as part of a criminal investigation.
03:22Now, of course, a search warrant isn't a determination of wrongdoing, but it isn't
03:27nothing either. What does it take to get one? And what do you think it signals here?
03:35Yeah, and it's important to note it's her Washington, D.C. address that was searched today. So to get a
03:43search warrant requires a federal magistrate judge to issue the warrant on what is called probable cause.
03:50There needs to be a fair element of provability or suspicion that's reasonable to the magistrate
03:58and that there is something that was used in the course of the suspected crime at the residence to
04:06be able to go in and search the way that they did today. We don't know, of course, at this
04:10time,
04:11what was in the search warrant. So we don't know exactly what they were looking for.
04:15Right. And the agents that raided her home were Homeland Security investigators. And I've read that
04:23that indicates that the investigation could regard immigration issues. We know J.D. Vance,
04:30the vice president, has accused Omar in the past of committing immigration fraud, which she denies.
04:38Based on what's publicly known, and as you say, there isn't, is there anything we can reasonably
04:42infer about the kinds of issues that investigators may be looking into in regards to Omar?
04:50Yeah, absolutely. We can suspect that because of what the Republicans have been saying for some time
04:56now, that it could be immigration related. If you recall, there were also allegations about
05:02potential marriage fraud as well, that she was not truthful regarding a marriage that occurred.
05:09And lastly, there have been numerous financial fraud allegations that have been thrown at
05:17Representative Omar over the last few years as well. But with Homeland Security involved,
05:22it strongly suggests immigration issues.
05:26OK. A lot of people are looking at the timing of this. How unusual is something like this to become
05:34public so close to a midterm election, which is in a couple of weeks?
05:42Right. This is an extraordinary set of circumstances to be this public. Within 60 days of an election,
05:50the DOJ has a standing procedure that they don't make big announcements about a sitting
05:58congressperson or somebody who's running for election within 60 days of the election. Now,
06:04that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. If we recall, then FBI Director James Comey during the 2016 election
06:12made an announcement 11 days before the presidential election against Hillary Clinton. And many suspect
06:19that that may have influenced the outcome of that election.
06:22Now, let's just, I want to ask you a little bit more about that, this longstanding policy that
06:29the Department of Justice doesn't make action like this publicly known so close to an election.
06:36Why would it, why wouldn't it want to avoid the appearance of any kind of interference with the
06:42political process?
06:45Right. And that's what the policy is based on is to prove, you know, so it doesn't appear
06:50that the DOJ is putting their thumb on the scale in favor or against the candidate. That is the
06:56tradition. However, here we have a, an administration that has shown itself since inauguration of the
07:06second term of President Donald Trump, that he does leverage the DOJ for political purposes.
07:14Think of all the cases that were brought forth that lacked evidence, lacked sufficient evidence to get
07:20through the first step of criminal litigation in federal courts. So there is a reasonable suspicion,
07:26I believe here, based on the actions of this administration and this DOJ, that it is political in nature.
07:34And, and, and Democrats are calling this a quote, continued corrupt weaponization of law enforcement
07:41against people perceived to be Trump's enemies. You're saying that there is evidence for that?
07:50Well, just based on the track record, right? We don't have a smoking gun document that, that says as much,
07:56but we know, based on the behavior of this administration and this Department of Justice
08:01Justice and FBI for that matter, under Kash Patel, that they are very interested in persecuting and
08:10prosecuting perceived political enemies of the sitting president. This is, hasn't been heard of in a
08:17very long time. The last I recall realistically that this was thrown about was when J. Edgar Hoover
08:25was in charge of the FBI. That's decades ago.
08:29Let's look at this particular case, though. Republicans would argue that if authorities decided not to
08:35investigate a sitting congresswoman because of the political optics, that would be bad as well, and possibly
08:42even a form of political interference in itself. Is there, is there any weight to that?
08:50Well, if that was the case, and this was merely an investigation, of course that is
08:55a valid point. However, today it was a very public raid on Ilhan Omar's house. It's not technically a
09:03raid. It was a, it was a search with a search warrant from a magistrate, but it appears like a
09:09raid
09:09and the timing is deeply suspicious. If they've been investigating her for well over a year,
09:15as we have learned they have, then if that is the case, why would you do this three weeks before
09:21an
09:21election if it's not politically motivated? I mean, are you telling me that in the last week,
09:29suddenly there's been some bombshell new development that they weren't able to discover
09:33in the previous year, year and a half that they've been investigating? That doesn't pass the smell test.
09:39Are you saying the timing's deeply suspicious? Republicans would say it's just a process of
09:46accountability. You don't agree, I assume.
09:51I do not. Again, I'm all for people being held to account for any crimes that may have been committed,
09:58but the timing here is wildly suspicious and does not hold up under their excuse of,
10:05oh, gosh, if we didn't investigate, that would be political interference. That's simply not true.
10:11That doesn't hold logically in the circumstances here.
10:15Ethan, do you know how this is being perceived among the wider American public?
10:22Well, I think most people see it for what it is, and in their perception, it is that this is
10:30a
10:30politically motivated attack on Representative Omar. Maybe she did commit a crime, but to do this three
10:37weeks before the election, again, knowing the longstanding policy of not within 60 days of the
10:44election for this to come out at this moment seems highly politically motivated. Most people see it that
10:51way. Of course, Donald Trump's hardcore supporters, whatever that small percentage is nowadays,
10:58they'll defend it no matter what, but everybody else sees it for what it is, at least the people I've
11:05talked to about it. And can you just tell us what happens next in this process against Ilhan Omar,
11:13if that's even known yet? Yeah, well, in a typical criminal investigation like this, after they've done
11:21the search of her home, they would likely probably secretly convene a grand jury and see if the grand
11:27jury determines that there is sufficient evidence to even bring charges against Representative Omar.
11:34And remember, again, in the second term of Donald Trump, there have been grand juries that refuse to
11:40bring charges, which is extremely rare. Typically, in a federal criminal investigation of this type,
11:45it is 98, 99% that the grand jury is going to come back with charges. But we have seen
11:53it more than once
11:54now in this administration in its second term, where the grand juries do not go along with the federal
12:00prosecutors. Thanks a lot for your insights today, Ethan. We've been speaking with Ethan Behrman, attorney and
12:06adjunct professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
12:11Thanks so much for having me on.
