Omar says safety concerns force her from home after federal search

Rep. Ilhan Omar says she can no longer live at her Washington home after federal agents searched it last week, citing safety concerns and the public disclosure of her address.

In her first interview since the Oct. 12 search, the Minnesota Democrat told MS NOW on Wednesday that about 10 to 15 Homeland Security Investigations agents arrived at 6 a.m., pounding on the front and back doors. Omar said she, her husband and her 20-year-old son were inside. She had slept only about 2½ hours after returning from a trip.

“You don’t show up to somebody’s house that early in the morning unless you’re trying to freak them out,” she said. Omar said she initially thought there might be a fire or an emergency involving a neighbor.

The agents showed her a warrant after she asked to see one, Omar said. She said they also asked her to sign a document waiving certain rights she has as a member of Congress, but she declined. The Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause protects lawmakers from civil and criminal liability related to their legislative acts.

The search lasted nearly five hours, according to Omar. She said she could not call her lawyer until about an hour into it and spent that time on a couch reading the warrant to check that agents stayed within its limits. Agents took 17 items, she said, including old phones belonging to her and a daughter. Items belonging to her husband, Tim Mynett, included a camera passed down by his uncle, a Somali phrase book and notebooks. Omar said she was not asked for a DNA sample and did not believe anything taken contained her DNA.

Despite criticizing the investigation, Omar said the agents “mostly conducted themselves in a decent way” and put things back, even folding some of her clothing. The Department of Homeland Security referred NBC News to the Justice Department, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment on her account.

The search is part of a criminal investigation. A person familiar with it told NBC News that possible charges include conspiracy and making false statements in immigration paperwork. Omar denied allegations of immigration fraud. The Guardian described claims promoted by people in President Donald Trump’s orbit — including an allegation that Omar entered a sham marriage with her brother — as baseless. Omar said the brother rumor began on a Somali blog before spreading among right-wing conspiracy theorists in Minneapolis.

Trump has said he had “nothing to do” with the investigation, a claim Omar rejected. The Guardian reported that Trump called Omar a “sick, very dishonest person who hates our country” on Tuesday. Asked whether she could be deported over alleged misstatements in immigration paperwork, he said: “Well, she could be. She could also go to jail.” Omar said she believes the search was meant to satisfy Trump loyalists. “They had to do something, I believe, to say, ‘Hey, look we raided her house,’” she said.

Omar said her now-public address, combined with death threats she receives, makes it unsafe for her to remain there while her children visit. “It’s no longer going to be feasible to be in that house,” she said.