A disturbing new report says people who have spoken publicly about Rep. Ilhan Omar faced death threats, pressure to recant and even physical assaults.
The allegations are serious. So is the line that must not be blurred: the people accused of making the threats are not officially connected to Omar, the report says, and there is no allegation that she directed them or even knew about them.
But if the accounts are accurate, someone has been trying to make sure critics understand the price of talking.
The New York Post reported that several people from Minnesota’s Somali community described a climate of fear around public criticism of Omar. One unnamed man said he was assaulted in Minneapolis and later attacked outside a restaurant in Kenya after speaking to the press.
The man claimed a Somali TikTok personality had denounced him and shared his location before the Minneapolis attack. He said a group pepper-sprayed him, knocked him down and repeatedly punched and kicked him.
Another source told the newspaper that he received a call demanding that he withdraw past statements about Omar and replace them with a message supporting her before the midterm election. The source refused, but said the pressure left him afraid of being further isolated and targeted.
The Post also described videos in which men allegedly threatened critics with hospitalization or death. The people making those threats are not accused of acting on Omar’s instructions.
That distinction matters because allegations should follow evidence, not outrun it. Omar’s office did not respond to the Post’s request for comment, according to the report.
The claims arrive in the middle of an already explosive federal investigation involving Omar’s immigration history and family records.
Omar has denied wrongdoing and called the federal inquiry political intimidation. After agents searched her Washington residence in October, she posted that the action was the latest escalation in a decade-long campaign against her.
The Minnesota Star Tribune reported last week that Omar said threats against her would force her to move from her Washington home. The interview came 10 days after federal agents searched that residence and seized her phone.
Omar told the newspaper that investigators also took a book her American-born husband had received to help him learn Somali. She said the inquiry was built on false accusations and was intended to frighten her before the election.
She also rejected the allegation that her former husband Ahmed Nur Said Elmi is her brother, calling that accusation “insane.” Omar said threats directed at her and her family have become so serious that she needs a new home in Washington.
That context should not be skipped: threats against Omar are wrong, and threats against people who criticize her are wrong. Political violence does not become acceptable when the target changes.
The marriage allegation has circulated for years, but Omar has consistently denied it. No court has found that she entered a sham marriage, and no criminal charge against her has been announced.
What has changed is the scale of the current federal inquiry.
CBS News reported that Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin called it a “large case” involving more than one person. He said Homeland Security investigators had presented the matter to the Justice Department, which was leading the investigation.
Multiple search warrants were served on October 12, including the warrant used at Omar’s home. Mullin said a judge authorized the enforcement action and that investigators expected the evidence to go before a grand jury.
The secretary discussed how coordinated immigration fraud could potentially be examined as a broader conspiracy. He did not say prosecutors had chosen a RICO theory, identified the other people under investigation or decided to bring charges.
CBS reported that the inquiry concerns possible fraud involving immigration documents submitted by members of Omar’s family decades ago. Omar denies those claims and says the administration is using federal law enforcement against a political opponent.
The Associated Press reported that federal authorities seized Omar’s phone and issued more than a dozen grand jury subpoenas, including subpoenas to some relatives. A grand jury in Minnesota is gathering evidence as investigators examine possible fraud in immigration paperwork.
The AP said Washington U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro had described “several investigations” involving Omar. Pirro also said her office was separately examining questions surrounding the congresswoman’s financial disclosures.
The report stressed that Omar has not been charged with a crime. Her lawyers and Democratic allies have challenged the timing of the search, which occurred only weeks before the midterm election, while federal officials say the inquiry follows evidence and court-authorized warrants.
News organizations have asked a court to unseal the warrant materials so the public can see the basis for the search. Prosecutors have argued that releasing them now could expose suspected wrongdoing and interfere with decisions about whether anyone should be charged.
Mullin rejected accusations that the administration was intimidating a political opponent, saying investigators were enforcing the law.
Now the public has two separate but overlapping questions.
First, what evidence does the Justice Department have, and will prosecutors bring charges against anyone?
Second, who allegedly threatened and attacked the people quoted by the Post—and will law enforcement investigate those claims?
Anonymous accounts require scrutiny, especially when they concern a heated political fight. They are not proof that Omar committed a crime, and they do not establish that she had any role in threats made by other people.
They do, however, describe a climate in which witnesses say speaking openly could put them in danger.
If people were beaten, threatened with death or ordered to recant because they talked about a member of Congress, those acts amount to intimidation. They deserve a real investigation of their own.
This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.
The post Ilhan Omar Critics Describe Chilling Campaign of Threats and Violence: ‘You’ll Be Killed’ appeared first on 100PercentFedUp.com.
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[H/T 100PercentFedUp]
