Ilhan Omar's Phone Seized, About a Dozen Grand Jury Subpoenas Issued in Minnesota Probe, Sources Say

Since agents from Homeland Security Investigations searched Rep. Ilhan Omar's Washington home on Monday, Oct. 12, the investigation has taken clearer shape: her phone was taken, roughly a dozen subpoenas have gone out, and a second inquiry is open in D.C.

The Minnesota Democrat has not been charged. The Justice Department says only that agents executed a judicially authorized warrant as part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation.

What investigators took and who they subpoenaed

Federal agents seized Omar's phone during the search, according to two people familiar with the investigation who spoke to NBC News. A person briefed on the probe told the Associated Press the same.

The subpoenas were issued Friday, Oct. 9, three days before the search, for a federal grand jury in Minnesota. The number is roughly a dozen per NBC's source, and "more than a dozen" per the AP's. They include relatives of Omar. Omar herself was not subpoenaed, one of the people told NBC, and agents also want to speak with her sister but had not reached her.

One of those people said the possible charges cited by federal officials include conspiracy and making false statements in immigration paperwork. That detail rests on a single anonymous source. CBS News, citing its own sources, described the grand jury inquiry as an examination of Omar's family history for possible fraud and false statements in immigration filings. It said some of the documents at issue date to Omar's childhood and were completed by her late father.

A second inquiry in D.C.

On Tuesday, Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said in a Fox News interview that "there are several investigations going on" related to Omar, including one into her financial disclosures. "If there was a crime that was committed, it will be prosecuted," Pirro said.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in September that officials know Omar "married her brother to try to bring him to the United States," and that the brother now lives in London. He also suggested there may be "more to this, the whole family migration." Omar has repeatedly denied immigration wrongdoing. Mullin offered no documents with those remarks.

In May, Vice President JD Vance said the Justice Department was investigating Omar, adding that "everybody's entitled to equal justice under the laws." Omar's office called his remarks "a ridiculous lie."

The New York Post reported emails showing Omar's congressional staff asked the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library in May 2019 to change her listed birth year from 1981 to 1982. The library director's May 24, 2019 email said staff had been told the year was incorrect. A former political opponent has questioned Omar's account of how she became a citizen. It is not established that the birth-year change is part of the federal case.

The election-timing dispute

The search came three weeks before the Nov. 3 midterms, inside the 60-day window in which the Justice Department has customarily avoided overt steps in cases touching candidates. That is an unwritten practice cited in a 2016 inspector general report. DOJ's written guidelines go further. They say prosecutors and agents "may never select the timing of any action" to affect an election or to advantage or disadvantage a candidate.

Omar says the search is an "attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement." She added: "For 10 years, Trump has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns." House Democratic leaders Hakeem Jeffries, Katherine Clark and Pete Aguilar called the raid "deeply disturbing."

President Trump said he had "nothing to do with" the search, though he called Omar "totally crooked." Sources told CBS that Attorney General Todd Blanche knew of the search in advance and that the Public Integrity Section was consulted. CBS reported that the section, which handles politically sensitive cases, has only two attorneys left after cuts last year. It is unclear what guidance it gave.

The government has not said why it moved when it did. CBS noted that some of the documents in question date back decades.

Former acting ICE Director Jonathan Fahey told the New York Post that a judge's signature on the warrant means a federal crime was likely committed and evidence would be found at the address. He said it could not have been easy to obtain in D.C. The warrant itself has not been made public.

The congressional-privilege question

CBS reported, citing sources, that a Washington magistrate judge approved the warrant only after extended discussions with Justice Department lawyers about the 2007 D.C. Circuit ruling in United States v. Rayburn House Office Building. That decision held that when a sitting member of Congress is investigated, the executive branch cannot review seized material until the member has had a chance to screen it for legislative privilege.

NBC noted that seizing a lawmaker's phone would ordinarily trigger protocols to protect the Constitution's speech or debate clause. Neither the Justice Department nor Omar's office has described what screening process, if any, will apply to her phone.

The next visible steps are whether the Minnesota grand jury returns anything, and whether Omar's sister, whom agents have not yet reached, sits for an interview.