Raskin Calls DHS Search of Ilhan Omar’s Home a ‘Scandalous Abuse’ of Power

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) said Tuesday that a federal search of Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) home in the Washington, D.C., area amounted to a “scandalous abuse of prosecutorial and executive power,” days after Department of Homeland Security agents conducted what was described as an early morning raid.

Speaking on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe,” Raskin said the search appeared to violate the Department of Justice’s own internal guidance against overt investigative or prosecutorial activity within 60 days of a federal election. The nation is currently about 21 days from the upcoming election.

Co-host Jonathan Lemire asked Raskin whether Congress had received any formal explanation for the search, noting that DHS had offered little public accounting beyond suggesting it related to a possible fraud probe, and that Omar has said she intends to continue her work despite the search.

“It’s profoundly troubling. It violates the Department of Justice’s own rules, which is that it does not engage in overt investigative or prosecutorial activity within 60 days of an election. And we’re now within 21 days of an election,” Raskin said.

Raskin said the underlying allegations reportedly involve fraud that may have been committed by Omar’s father in the 1990s, and questioned the timing of a search of her home so close to a major congressional election.

“It does look like she’s being targeted for political persecution, like a lot of our other congressional colleagues have been, like Adam Schiff, like Jason Crow, like Maggie Goodland, like Mark Kelly,” he said.

Raskin noted that investigations and prosecutions involving those other lawmakers “have fallen apart,” and argued the pattern reflects an effort to cast doubt on the president’s political opponents.

“It’s an absolutely outrageous and scandalous abuse of prosecutorial and executive power,” Raskin said.

DHS has not publicly detailed the full basis for the search. It remains unclear what, if any, additional accounting Congress has received about the operation.