Former US president Barack Obama has called the justice department’s investigation of Ilhan Omar, a member of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of Congress, dangerous.
He made the comment in a social media post on Sunday, 18 October, local time.
Obama said the government was trying to intimidate one of President Donald Trump’s fiercest critics and drive her out of the country.
“The full force of the federal government is being brought down on a law-abiding elected representative because she dared to criticise the president,” Obama wrote in the post.
The former president said the recent search of the Minnesota Democrat’s home in Washington, DC was intended “to find evidence of some imaginary crime from 20 years ago that could be used to strengthen their case.”
According to earlier CNN reporting, the search was part of an immigration fraud investigation examining whether Omar’s father gave false information about her age when she became a US citizen in 2000.
Omar has challenged the basis of the investigation. She has said she lawfully became a US citizen in 2000, after fleeing Somalia in 1995.
“That any president or any administration can take such open steps to intimidate someone should anger all Americans, whatever their personal view of Congresswoman Omar’s politics,” Obama said in the post. “Because if this becomes the new normal, there is no reason to think it will stop with Omar, or that a president of another party will not do the same in future.”
The government has so far given no sign that it intends to strip Omar of her citizenship, but earlier this year Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that he wanted Omar sent back to Somalia.
Omar has not been charged with any crime, and the justice department has not made public any evidence against her. She has challenged the legality of last week’s search and demanded the return of personal property seized by federal agents.
Last week Trump told reporters he had “nothing to do with” the search.
“I think she is a very bad person. But this is entirely a matter for the justice department. I have nothing to do with it,” he said.
Besides Obama, many other prominent Democrats have stood by Omar. House Democratic leaders called the search “deeply concerning”. Source: CNN
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report