Ex-Ilhan Omar Bodyguard Charged As DOJ Presses Immigration Probe

Federal prosecutors have charged Abdullahi Mohamed, a former bodyguard to Representative Ilhan Omar, with lying under oath to a government official, a case his lawyer says is being used to pressure him to incriminate the Minnesota Democrat in a sweeping federal immigration and corruption probe.^[1]

The perjury indictment of Mohamed, a Somali immigrant who once handled Omar's personal security, stems from statements he allegedly made to federal agents as they examined Omar's family immigration history, an alleged sham marriage tied to a green card application, and her finances, according to people briefed on the investigation.^[1] Mohamed's attorney has publicly claimed that prosecutors spent months trying to turn his client into an informant and told him the Omar case was "100 percent being run by 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.," suggesting direct White House involvement in a Justice Department investigation of a sitting member of Congress.^[1]

Federal interest in Omar intensified earlier this year, when prosecutors formally opened a criminal investigation into whether members of her extended family misrepresented relationships on immigration paperwork in the 1990s and 2000s and whether Omar later entered into a sham marriage to secure a green card for a partner.^[1] Investigators have also scrutinized consulting payments, campaign spending and other financial dealings connected to Omar and her political allies, executing a search warrant at her Washington residence and issuing grand jury subpoenas last month to people in her political and family circles.^[1]

Earlier coverage of Omar's legal exposure centered on long-circulating conservative allegations about her marriages and family ties, which she has repeatedly denied as racist smears, and on prior ethics complaints that did not result in criminal charges. Over the past several weeks, however, mainstream reporting has shifted from treating those claims chiefly as partisan attacks to detailing a formal Justice Department inquiry, including the home search, grand jury activity and now the move to indict a close former aide.^[1]

The Justice Department has declined to comment on the pending case against Mohamed or on the scope of the Omar investigation, and there is no indication prosecutors have decided whether to seek charges against the congresswoman herself. Omar, a prominent progressive and one of the first Muslim women elected to Congress, has not been accused of wrongdoing in court filings, and her allies say the focus on her immigration history reflects a broader backlash to her outspoken criticism of US foreign policy and domestic policing. The claim by Mohamed's lawyer that the inquiry is being "run" from the White House, if borne out, would raise fresh questions about political interference in a criminal probe, echoing long-running debates over the Justice Department's independence under presidents of both parties.

1. Nytimes