A former security guard of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) was charged earlier this year with a felony related to immigration fraud in an effort by the Trump administration to extract incriminating information on the congresswoman, that Somali bodyguard’s lawyer is now claiming.
Abdullahi Mohamud Mohamed, who served a brief stint as Omar’s bodyguard, was indicted by a grand jury in April on charges of lying to immigration authorities under oath, a Class D felony punishable by up to five years in federal prison.
The one-count indictment alleged that Mohamed, while he was applying for legal permanent residence, responded dishonestly to questioning during his own green card interview on Oct. 20, 2025.
Mohamed was accused of “willfully and knowingly” making materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statements to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officers interviewing him as part of the permanent residency application process.
According to the charging documents, Mohamed “falsely” answered no when asked whether he ever worked on behalf of the Somali government while in the United States or had any interactions with U.S. officials, politicians, or government offices.
Mohamed briefly served on Omar’s security detail during a 2022 trip to Puntland, Somalia, according to his criminal defense attorney, Bruce Rivers. Mohamed, a self-described “#AfricanBigDaddy” and “plus-size model,” has also posted videos on TikTok of Omar giving him a guided tour of her Capitol Hill office and of himself appearing next to her at Somali Networking Night in Minnesota on Oct. 4, 2025.
Rivers told the New York Times in a report published this week that his client has limited English proficiency and did not fully understand the questions asked of him during the interview, though Mohamed graduated in April from the Global Diplomacy & Peace Academy at Winona State University, a Minnesota college.
But a source close to the Ilhan Omar immigration investigation told the Washington Examiner that Mohamed’s case was “totally separate from our investigation into Ilhan Omar” and “not connected” in any way.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the source called Rivers’s coercion claims “completely false.”
“Him jumping to that conclusion is based on a totally false premise,” the source said. “They’re trying to paint it as this witch hunt and politicized effort.”
Lawyer alleges politically motivated prosecution
Rivers is alleging that federal prosecutors tried numerous times to pressure Mohamed to help the Trump administration build a case against Omar, using the threat of his deportation as leverage.
For months, Trump officials have been signaling that they are mounting an immigration fraud case against the Somali-born congresswoman. The investigation went public last month when federal agents raided her home on Oct. 12 and reportedly issued subpoenas to compel individuals close to Omar to testify before a grand jury.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro confirmed that her office was also investigating Omar’s personal finances.
ILHAN OMAR CLAIMS HUSBAND ONLY EARNED $200 LAST YEAR AFTER MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR ‘ACCOUNTING ERROR’
Rivers said that federal prosecutors invited Mohamed, prior to the indictment, to a meeting in March known as a proffer. In such sessions, subjects share information with law enforcement on the condition of limited immunity regarding any self-incriminating statements they might make. Proffers can pave the way for reduced charges and agreements to serve as an informant against a higher-profile defendant.
Omar was the main focus of their meeting, Rivers claimed. The investigators, according to Rivers, asked Mohamed about Omar’s immigration and marital history, the latter of which has long been the subject of scrutiny over suspicions she married her brother to help him obtain a green card.
Rivers claimed that investigators offered to prevent Mohamed from being deported if he provided evidence against Omar and that they were repeatedly told “this was coming from the White House.”
“The overarching theme was ‘give us everything and anything.’ It was a fishing expedition without a lot of direction,” Rivers claimed.
Investigators question Omar’s $10,000 check to Mohamed’s brother
Rivers said investigators also zeroed in on what Mohamed knew about a $10,000 check that Omar had written to his brother.
According to Rivers, investigators suspected that the payment may have been a bribe that Omar paid to Mohamed’s brother in order to facilitate a meeting with an ambassador and a Somali political official.
Following the meeting, Mohamed asked his brother about the $10,000 and later relayed to prosecutors that the payment had settled a loan, Rivers said.
Omar and Rivers did not respond to inquiries from the Washington Examiner about the $10,000 transaction. The congresswoman’s office reiterated to the Minnesota Star Tribune that the payment was “for a loan.”
Rivers alleged that after failing to turn Mohamed into a cooperating witness, prosecutors secured the grand jury indictment against him on April 7.
Then on Sept. 3, prosecutors had Mohamed testify in front of a grand jury in Washington that has been reviewing evidence in the investigation into Omar, said Rivers. He alleged that prosecutors offered immunity to his client for anything Mohamed might say that could be used against the congresswoman.
ILHAN OMAR IMMIGRATION HISTORY: SCRUTINY SURROUNDS FAMILY’S REFUGEE CLAIMS
Rivers said Mohamed told the grand jury what he had shared with prosecutors concerning the $10,000 payment and insisted he lacked knowledge about Omar’s affairs, including her family’s journey to the U.S. three decades ago and her past marriages.
“In other words, he didn’t really know much, if anything,” Rivers told the Minnesota Star Tribune. “He called the trip to Washington a waste of time and money.”
Case ultimately dismissed against Mohamed
The criminal case against Mohamed was set to go to trial on Oct. 26, but prosecutors filed a motion to dismiss the indictment on Sept. 4, the day after his grand jury testimony, Rivers claimed.
Mohamed was “currently in removal proceedings under Section 240 of the Immigration and Nationality Act,” the government said in its filing, finding the criminal case to be moot because USCIS initiated deportation proceedings against Mohamed on Aug. 19.
A judge granted the dismissal request. “The Government is no longer interested in prosecuting the Defendant in light of his anticipated removal from the United States,” the judge wrote.
Jackie Rogers, a spokeswoman for Omar, told the New York Times that the congresswoman had never directly employed Mohamed.
Rogers called it “outrageous” that the government, as Rivers alleges, offered to intervene in Mohamed’s immigration case in exchange for damaging information about Omar.
“This is a staggering abuse of presidential power and a blatant weaponization of the full federal government to intimidate political opponents,” Rogers said.
ILHAN OMAR DEPORTATION CASE COMPLICATED BY PROCEDURAL FACTORS
Mohamed was summoned to immigration court by USCIS back in August, weeks earlier than the dismissal motion.
USCIS and the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota, which brought the case against Mohamed, did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s requests for comment. Rivers and Omar were contacted for comment on the Justice Department’s insistence that Mohamed’s case was “completely unrelated to any current investigations.”
Mohamed, when reached by phone in Nairobi, Kenya, declined to comment to the New York Times, saying that he intended to speak when the “time is right.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to Mohamed about the nature of his relationship with Omar.
Mohamed has maintained that he and Omar were not close, despite the tour she gave him of her congressional office and his presence at a number of her public appearances over the years.
In 2024, Mohamed appeared on stage behind Omar at a Somali Week festival in Minnesota, also attended by the former prime minister of Somalia.
Last week, Mohamed posted a TikTok video of the congresswoman breakdancing at her victory party on Nov. 3, held inside a Somali mall, after she won reelection for a fifth term. It is unclear if Mohamed filmed the video himself.
Rivers said Mohamed left the U.S. after his charges were dropped.
Continue reading...
[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
