A federal judge prevented the Department of Justice from making an unusual move against a frequent target of President Donald Trump's political fury, according to a new report.
CNN's Katelyn Polantz reported Thursday that the White House pushed for an unusually aggressive search at the home of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), but she said the judge who ultimately signed off on the search warrant expressed concerns about that approach and imposed some limits.
"They wanted to treat it like any other search," Polantz said. "That's not how it works under the law."
"The judge said you actually do have to set up a process to make sure you're not accessing her legislative materials," the reporter added. "She can't just be treated as if this were anyone's home. There could be legislative work there, and the Constitution protects that for members of Congress, especially in criminal investigations, and so there was a back-and-forth that went on for several days with this judge and with the Justice Department, before he was willing to sign this search warrant. Highly unusual in the way that that went down."
Homeland Security Investigations agents searched the Somalia-born congresswoman's home Monday morning as part of an investigation into alleged immigration fraud, and prosecutors are examining whether Omar’s age was stated correctly when she became a U.S. citizen in 2000.
Her father, who helped her apply, said at the time that she was a minor, but the Justice Department alleges she may have lied about her age to speed up the process.
Investigators are also looking at whether that alleged lie was repeated on later federal paperwork, such as passport applications. That would bring more recent conduct into a case that dates back more than two decades.
“So this is a question of an investigation that dates back many, many years,” Polantz said. “But they are looking at more recent activity by Representative Omar on documentation about her immigration.”
Omar has denied any wrongdoing.
The search has also raised questions about its timing, coming just weeks before the midterm elections.
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