What did federal agents take from Ilhan Omar’s home?
Federal agents took 17 items including Omar’s phone and her husband’s notebooks.
( NewsNation ) — Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar said she was “surprised” federal agents took 17 items during last week’s federal raid search of her Washington, D.C. home.
Omar told MS Now that her phone , an old phone, her youngest daughter’s phone, her husband’s notebooks, a camera he received from his uncle and a Somali phrase book for children were seized.
“To walk away with 17 items of, like, 10 that were just notebooks and like old phones was such a bizarre, bizarre thing,” she said.
Attorneys for Omar asked the Justice Department on Friday to immediately return property that agents seized, arguing the search stemming from an immigration fraud investigation was “neither justified nor lawful.”
‘I have to figure out where to move’: Omar
Omar also told MS Now that she feels unsafe in her home after the raid.
“Obviously, I can’t continue to live there,” she said Wednesday in her first interview since the search. “I have to figure out where to move to, because our address has been public, and with the death threats that I deal with, it’s no longer going to be feasible to be in that house and have my kids visiting off and on and having people track them.”
Federal authorities are reportedly investigating potential fraud in her family’s immigration paperwork.
Last week, federal prosecutors issued at least 15 subpoenas as part of the investigation, including subpoenas targeting some of her relatives. Omar‘s older sister, Sahra Noor, was questioned by authorities amid the ongoing criminal probe into the congresswoman, NewsNation confirmed Tuesday.
Omar was born in Somalia and is a naturalized U.S. citizen. She said Wednesday in her interview that she is “confident in the fact that I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Omar has not been charged with a crime. She has maintained she has done nothing wrong.
Reports have suggested investigators are examining Omar’s immigration history and whether she and her late father intentionally provided false information about her birth date on immigration paperwork.
NewsNation’s Leland Vittert reported federal agents collected garbage in hopes of obtaining DNA from Omar and her family before the raid at the Minnesota Democrat’s home in Washington, D.C.
Multiple sources familiar with the probe tell NewsNation that potential DNA evidence is critical to the investigation into Omar. They say the case is broader than the public may assume based on longstanding accusations surrounding her immigration history and marital status.
NewsNation’s Rich McHugh and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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