Obama calls federal probe of Omar a political attack that should “outrage all Americans”
Former President Barack Obama on Sunday denounced the Trump administration’s criminal investigation of Rep. Ilhan Omar, Democrat of Minnesota, as a political attack, saying the probe should “outrage all Americans,” The Hill reported.
In a lengthy post on the social platform X, Obama wrote: “It is a basic principle of American democracy that the government can’t selectively target individuals simply because of their political beliefs or what they say. But that’s exactly what the Trump Administration is doing to Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.” He accused the administration of attempting to strip Omar of her U.S. citizenship and possibly deport her over her public criticisms of President Trump.
Obama’s remarks came nearly a week after federal agents raided Omar’s Washington home and seized her phone as part of a criminal investigation into her immigration paperwork. Investigators are examining whether Omar or her father provided false information during the naturalization process when she was a child, following accusations of immigration fraud from Trump and other Republican figures. No charges have been filed against Omar, and she has denied all allegations, saying she is being politically targeted.
Obama said Omar, who was born in Somalia, arrived in the United States with her father when she was 12 and automatically became a citizen at 17 after her father was naturalized. He accused the administration of pursuing an “unsubstantiated theory” that Omar was actually 18 at the time, which would have required her to apply for citizenship separately. “The full weight of the federal government is being brought down on a law-abiding elected official because she has dared to criticize the president,” Obama wrote.
Trump has denied involvement in the investigation, previously telling reporters the matter was up to the Justice Department. “I’ve always found her to be totally crooked, personally, but that has nothing to do with me,” Trump said.
Obama also cited federal investigations involving New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey as examples of what he described as a pattern of targeting perceived political enemies, saying those cases had either stalled or been dismissed and predicting the Omar investigation would face a similar outcome. “If this becomes the new normal, there’s no reason to believe it will stop with her — or that future presidents, in either party, won’t do the same,” he wrote.