Judge Trump sought to impeach now oversees Omar search warrant battle
Chief Judge James Boasberg, whom President Trump branded a radical left agitator and wanted impeached, now decides whether the public sees the warrant behind the raid on Rep. Ilhan Omar.
Federal agents searched the Washington, D.C., home of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., on Oct. 12. Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI carried out the search under a warrant issued by U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew Sharbaugh.
The Minnesota Democrat is tied to two separate federal investigations, and a fight is underway to unseal that warrant. Chief Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia is handling the dispute, the same Obama appointee President Trump has blasted as a troublemaker and pressed Congress to remove.
Fox News reported that the probes stem from discrepancies between financial disclosures Omar filed a year apart, and from allegations that her father committed fraud on immigration paperwork. Investigators are examining whether her age was misstated on citizenship papers in 2000. Omar immigrated from Somalia in 1995 at age 12.
Boasberg now holds the pen on whether voters, reporters, and watchdogs see the probable-cause showing that justified a search of a sitting member of Congress. The Times and the press coalition say the search is done and redaction can protect agents and methods. The Justice Department says the warrant is not fully executed and a charging decision is not public, so disclosure would be premature.
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