A Fishing Expedition with a Search Warrant: How Trump Turned DHS Loose on Ilhan Omar

Here are the news stories that deserve your attention for the week October 11, 2026:

The Trump administration is leveraging the power and resources of the federal government to try to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar, a sitting lawmaker with no known history of fraud or criminal activity, from the country just weeks before her reelection bid. The move marks a stunning escalation and shows how far the federal is willing to go to punish Trump's critics.

On Monday, just before dawn, federal agents raided the DC home of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN). They took her cellphone, passport, personal computers, and boxes of documents while she and her husband were there.

Reuters reports:

“The sealed warrant for Monday’s search listed conspiracy, false statements on immigration paperwork and immigration fraud as potential crimes being investigated, one of the people familiar with the matter said."

Last month, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin raised the prospect of deporting Omar, claiming she had obtained her citizenship through “illegal activity.”

In a post to X, Omar said:

Make no mistake: this is an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement. For ten years, Trump has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns. This is just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation. I will not be silenced.

Omar and her family fled Somalia during the civil war and came to the US in 1995, when she was 12. In 2000, she became a naturalized citizen. Her father filed his own naturalization paperwork and listed Omar as 17 — a minor, which meant she was automatically naturalized along with him.

What MAGA wants you to think is that she might really have been 18, in which case her naturalization is invalid, she isn’t a citizen, and she can be deported.

The first Trump administration reviewed Omar’s immigration records in 2019 and found no evidence of fraud, The Washington Post reports, citing three unnamed immigration officials.

Mary Giovagnoli, an immigration attorney and policy expert, writes for Ms. magazine:

“This begs the question—what evidence does DHS possibly expect to find in the Washington residence of a member of Congress from Minnesota, about paperwork her father filed decades ago?”

It looks like a fishing expedition with a search warrant, which we'd all love to see. Reuters reports that a group of news organizations has asked the judge to unseal the search records.

Omar's lawyers are challenging the legality of the search, The Wall Street Journal reports. They allege federal agents didn’t notify the House general counsel’s office before executing the search and didn’t give Omar a copy of the warrant — both of which the court required. They also say agents prevented her from calling her counsel for more than an hour during the search.

The government claims it complied with every requirement.

As part of their “investigation,” The Wall Street Journal also reports that:

“Authorities have also issued more than a dozen subpoenas, including to some of Omar’s relatives, seeking testimony before a Minnesota grand jury, a person familiar with those proceedings said. Among other things, the investigation is looking at her family’s immigration paperwork, the person said.”

The Journal also notes how unusual the method is:

“Former immigration officials said denaturalization investigations have historically been rare, and it is extremely unusual for them to involve search warrants, as the government should already have the relevant immigration records.”

The Post’s sources are blunt about what’s different this time:

“Several current and former officials raised questions about the scope, tactics and motivations driving the current Omar investigation, which they say appears to be disregarding key norms on how immigration reviews are typically handled and bypassing guardrails intended to ensure federal inquiries, including those looking into sitting lawmakers, are not perceived to be driven by politics.”

The judge had the same worry. Per the Post:

“Before carrying out the search, prosecutors spent days working to allay concerns from a federal judge that their plans could run afoul of constitutional protections shielding members of Congress from unwarranted executive branch intrusion, according to three people familiar with the matter.”

This whole thing appears to be an effort by the Trump administration to try to kick a sitting lawmaker out of the country, three weeks before she is up for reelection.

Giovagnoli adds:

“Refugees are among the most vetted people in the entire world. People wait years, even decades to get through the vetting process. There is absolutely no reason for Trump to claim that there is rampant fraud in the refugee system, because we know this is not about fraud. This is about targeting Black and brown people from foreign countries simply because Stephen Miller doesn’t want them here.”

Former President Barack Obama — whose enemies tried to peddle the lie that he wasn’t born in the US and was ineligible to run for office — mounted a lengthy defense of Omar on X. In part:

“The full weight of the federal government is being brought down on a law-abiding elected official because she has dared to criticize the president. And it’s not the first time this has happened. Under President Trump, the Justice Department has repeatedly gone after those he considers his political enemies — from the Attorney General of New York, to the former head of the FBI, to members of the Federal Reserve. In those cases, the prosecutions either stalled or were dismissed for having no basis in law, and the same is likely to happen in this case.”

He added:

“The fact that any president, or any administration, is willing to engage in such transparent efforts to intimidate someone should outrage all Americans, regardless of how they feel about Congresswoman Omar’s political views. Because if this becomes the new normal, there’s no reason to believe it will stop with her — or that future presidents, in either party, won’t do the same.”

This week's developments are in keeping with Trump's racist, misogynistic, anti-immigrant, and anti-Muslim agenda.

In last week’s newsletter, I highlighted a series of actions the administration is taking against immigrants, international students, and workers: banning major tech companies from sponsoring them, raising fees to keep them from gaining temporary work authorization, and dramatically increasing the number of denaturalization cases it pursues, at great cost.

That’s on top of the trends we’ve covered here before: the ban on refugees except white Afrikaners, ICE shooting people dead across the country, and deportations to countries people have never set foot in, often in violation of court orders and due process.

And then there’s Omar herself. She’s an immigrant, a woman, a Muslim, and a Democrat — a quadruple threat to the angriest gremlins living in Trump’s psyche. He has called her “garbage.”

Omar was elected in 2018, the first midterm of Trump’s first term, as part of the Blue Wave that rebuked him. She represents — or at least reminds him of — how badly he failed then, and what he stands to lose in a few weeks. It’s almost as if... if he goes down, he wants to take her down with him... laws and democracy be damned.

The Justice Department is suing California and threatening local officials with criminal prosecution unless they comply with demands that could disenfranchise thousands of Democratic voters. The effort is part of the administration’s broader push to influence the outcome of the midterm elections in the final weeks before voting concludes.

On Tuesday, the DOJ gave California election officials two days “to review a list of alleged noncitizen voters” who had apparently been sent mail-in ballots — “or face legal action,” Reuters reported, calling it “an unprecedented effort to find evidence of voter fraud” before the November 3 midterms. The list contained an estimated 20,000 names.

Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter sent the letter to state officials — but sent the list itself, on a thumb drive, to a single Los Angeles County election official.

“For individuals whom you cannot independently confirm citizenship status, we request that you immediately instruct the appropriate elections official to segregate — not cancel — those individuals’ vote-by-mail ballots until their citizenship status can be determined,” McCotter wrote.

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, a Democrat, said the Trump administration is trying to “cause chaos and fuel public distrust in our elections.”

In a letter back to McCotter, she asked for something more than allegations: “Nowhere has the federal government clarified the basis for suspecting—not even confirming with any level of certainty—the listed individuals are non-citizens.” She also slammed the 48-hour deadline as “an emergency of the DOJ’s creation.”

Los Angeles County election official Dean Logan said his office had not accessed the thumb drive because “doing so would conflict with established data privacy and information security protocols. We do not consider the device a secure medium. Additionally, the letter does not specify the number of individuals involved or describe the information contained in the records.”

The password to the drive, he said, came on a handwritten note. “Election offices do not just stick thumb drives into their technology, for very good reason,” he said.

It’s also not clear whether all 20,000 names are even in Los Angeles County — and if they aren’t, Logan couldn’t verify them anyway.

On Thursday, the DOJ sued California and asked a federal judge to bar officials from counting those voters’ mail-in ballots. The case is pending.

Earlier this year, the Trump administration alleged there were 190,000 noncitizens on California’s voter rolls. Now the list is down to 20,000. “What happened to those 170,000? They just got those wrong,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said Thursday.

By Friday, the DOJ was threatening California officials with criminal prosecution for not obeying. And in a Truth Social post, Trump wrote: “They will all go to jail for a long period of time!!!”

Why pick on California? Probably because disenfranchising people here gets the biggest bang for the buck. Under its newly drawn congressional map, Democrats are poised to pick up as many as five additional House seats this year. And with 52 seats, California has more than any other state. The state redrew its map after Texas Republicans gerrymandered theirs to gain up to five more.

So far the DOJ has sued 30 red and blue states for access to their voter rolls, and it has lost 26 and won exactly… none.

The DOJ has also threatened other election officials across the country with criminal prosecution unless they roll over for the federal government.

Israeli terror attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank are spiking during this year's olive harvest, far surpassing last year's numbers. This week, a slew of attacks on Palestinians, Americans, and European officials sparks backlash.

It’s olive harvest season in the West Bank — which is also when pogroms against Palestinians by Israeli terrorists escalate. The goal is to sever Palestinians’ ties to their land and cut off their income and food security.

In all of 2025 there were 185 attacks across the entire season, according to the UN. This year there have already been nearly 200, and the season is just beginning. The attacks – which include setting olive groves on fire, blocking access to farmland, and attacking Palestinians – have already killed one person, injured more than 120, and damaged more than 2,500 trees and saplings.

Veteran photojournalist Heidi Levine, on assignment for The Washington Post, was beaten and robbed of her equipment by Israelis in one such attack this week.

American journalist Jasper Nathaniel was with her, and along with local Palestinians he helped her escape. “Let me die,” she told him as he lifted her off the ground and urged her to run, the mob closing in again.

Nathaniel has documented the whole thing on his social accounts, here. He says Levine has numerous broken bones and appeared to have been stabbed or cut. He also documented Israeli forces nearby who did nothing — and when he alerted them to the settler violence, the military tear-gassed him. He says they shot a Palestinian man in the leg while letting the Israelis walk away.

Later, from her hospital bed, Levine — who was born Jewish — said:

“I don’t know how a parent can raise such a monster. They’re not even humans, and yes, they are Jewish terrorists. And you know what? Sadly, none of them will be prosecuted. I am sure of it.”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said on X that he had called Levine to apologize, and claimed that the incident is being investigated. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he was "disturbed" by the attack.

Israeli settler terrorists also attacked European diplomats visiting the West Bank, including the mayor of the French town of Aulnoye-Aymeries Bernard Baudoux. “I think that if settlers are behaving like this, there is a tolerance on the part of the Israeli government,” Baudox said. "“For me, I’ll go back to my country and everything will be fine. Those who continue to suffer the most are those who are here.”

RELATED:

• Since October 7, 2023, 247 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza, Iran, Lebanon and Yemen, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Israel has killed 241 of them.
• UNICEF reports that Israel has killed more than 340 children since agreeing to a ceasefire last October. As winter approaches, an estimated 800,000 children are displaced, most still living in tents because Israel refuses to allow in the supplies needed to build shelter.
• Israeli spyware company Candiru used “zero-click” technology to spy on people and companies including Al Jazeera, according to Citizen Lab, a Canadian academic research organization. It’s the first known instance of this. The company was able to redirect specific targets to infected servers and spy on them, meaning the users never had to click on anything. Candiru is on a government blacklist for hacking journalists and activists around the globe.

“Once the device is infected, the malicious software is designed to collect a wide range of sensitive data, including files, documents, and browser data such as cookies, bookmarks, and saved credentials," Al Jazeera reports. “It can also capture keystrokes, take screenshots, record microphone and webcam input, and extract emails and messages from popular communication platforms. To avoid triggering security mechanisms, the spyware often uses encrypted communication channels and breaks up stolen data into smaller chunks sent over time."

CitizenLab: “The researchers at Confiant analyzed targeting data and found signs that these ads were displayed on networks of major governmental entities, including the U.S. Department of Defense, the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Estonia’s Information System Authority (RIA), Spain’s Ministry for Digital Transformation and Civil Service, Armenia’s Office of the Prime Minister, and multiple government entities in Israel. Their research also found signs they were shown in networks of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the International Criminal Court.”

• US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee’s son is running the family travel business and still selling tours called “The Israel Experience with Governor Mike Huckabee,” Zeteo reports. “The situation mirrors, in miniature, how Donald Trump, his family, and some of his top advisers have – at a historic, record-shattering rate – cashed in on his presidency, including on business in the Middle East, with little concern about ethics or the appearance of corruption.” Huckabee agreed to divest from the business before taking the job, but according to Zeteo he hasn’t filed any documents showing he did. The State Department didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Stories that are new and on the bubble, appear to be escalating quickly with major developments and/or have decision making points in the very near term.

Trump's War on Iran

Trump is drawing up plans to use the Massive Ordnance Air Blast, or MOAB — better known as the “Mother of All Bombs” — on Iran if he resumes attacks after the midterms, CNN reports.

At more than 21,000 pounds, including an estimated 18,000 pounds of explosives, it’s the largest non-nuclear bomb in the US arsenal. The smoke plume from a single strike can be seen 20 miles away, per the Air Force. Because it detonates a few feet above the ground, it destroys everything — including civilians and civilian infrastructure — within a 0.6-mile radius, Al Jazeera reports. Which makes you wonder what they’d actually use it for. If the goal is to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities, which are underground, the MOAB won’t do the trick.

Trump has been unable to end a war he expected to last a few weeks. So is this a threat, or brute force meant to force Iran into surrender?

In a 2008 Air Force article about the MOAB, Robert Hammack, then head of the Air Force Research Laboratory, said:

“The most amazing thing about MOAB is it’s the most powerful bomb ever built and has done its job – deterring the enemy – simply because they know about it.”

It’s been used once, in Trump’s first term, in Afghanistan. It killed more than 90 people, most of them alleged terrorists.

Aso – conveniently – the Pentagon will withhold its internal review of a US attack on a school in Minab, Iran, on the first day of the war — a strike that killed more than 150 people, at least 123 of them children — until after the midterms “at the earliest,” Bloomberg reports, citing unnamed sources.

“The delayed report raises broader questions about government transparency, military accountability and the public’s access to information about civilian casualties during operations that are funded by American taxpayers.”

Starlink Interference

Someone inside the Trump administration ordered Elon Musk’s SpaceX to throttle Starshield, the satellite system Ukraine’s military uses for “battlefield communications and drone operations,” (including intercepting Russian drone attacks) Reuters reports, citing two US officials and one Western official. Reuters’ sources could not say who inside the White House gave the order.

“The move to temporarily restrict the vital communications system came as President Donald Trump has pressured Kyiv to stop its attacks on Russian refineries, which he has blamed for the soaring energy prices that are denting his Republican Party’s prospects in the November midterm elections.”

Congress was not notified, and nine senators — four of them Republicans — are demanding an investigation. They want an initial briefing by Nov 1.

In a letter to the Pentagon, the lawmakers say:

“We are particularly alarmed by incidents in which U.S. diplomatic, military, and security personnel were unable to reach designated bunkers during Russian air raids, amid reported disruptions to intelligence-sharing and early-warning capabilities. We urgently request an Inspector General investigation into these incidents, including whether actions or decisions by the Department of Defense or its contractors contributed to these dangerous circumstances.”

In his defense – and throwing Trump under the bus – Musk posted to X:

“Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government. Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS.”

The Telegraph reports that it was Musk’s idea though — and Trump just OK’d it. Trump denies all of it. “I didn’t do that. No, we didn’t do that at all. In fact, I don’t even think it was slowed down, from what I understood. Because I just checked this morning,” he told reporters.

Zelensky says they still don't have full access of this writing.

RELATED:

• Makes you wonder.... who is the US helping?? Trump on Friday voided a law that would have sanctioned Russia -- angering Republicans. The bill had passed the Senate 86-11. It would have imposed sanctions on Russian goods, oligarchs, banks and more, and would have been a negotiating tool for Ukraine and the US in the war against Russia. Sen. Thom Tillis called the move “beyond irresponsible.” Sen. John Cornyn urged his colleagues to investigate. Tillis and Cornyn are both retiring this year.

Stories that could escalate into something more problematic or are waiting for major decisions that could decide its trajectory in the short-term.

• The Pentagon is sending an estimated 600 troops to Panama, Colombia and Honduras for “jungle warfare training,” The New York Times reports 🎁. That’s in line with the administration’s threats of sending ground troops to Latin America to fight drug cartels. “Human rights groups are concerned that the growing U.S.-led military campaign could endanger civilians. And experts say that killing members of trafficking groups — even top leaders — does little to stem the flow of drugs, since those killed can be replaced.”
• The Supreme Court will take up a case on how much the now-disbanded DOGE must release in response to public records requests. The watchdog group CREW filed FOIA requests for DOGE records, didn’t get them, and sued. The government claims DOGE was a “presidential advisory” group that isn’t covered by public records law, The New York Times reports 🎁. The Court won’t hear it until sometime next year.

• The Washington Post 🎁 has a list of all the major donors of Trump’s ballroom project. Nvidia, Apple, and founder of the Dish network gave the most — at $25 million each, as did the Adelson GOP friendly, pro-Israel family. Trump who said he’d pay for the entire thing — has donated exactly ZERO. Together the donors have contributed $330 million towards the $600 million project.
• The DOJ wants to indict former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson for perjury and obstruction of justice after she testified against Trump before the congressional committee investigating the January 6th insurrection.
  • “The active federal grand jury investigation against Hutchinson in D.C. is the latest example of the Justice Department wielding its law enforcement powers against perceived foes of President Donald Trump. The investigation around Hutchinson began under then-Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was fired by Trump in April in part because he thought she was moving too slowly in cases against his adversaries, the people familiar said,” The Washington Post reports.
  • Hutchinson is the aide who testified in 2022 that Trump threw a plate of food at the wall when his then attorney general told him there was no widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, and that Trump tried to grab the steering wheel of his Secret Service agent’s vehicle when they wouldn’t take him to the Capitol on January 6.
• The IRS is delaying publishing a report on this year’s tax filing data because it will show just who benefited from the Republican-passed Big Beautiful Bill, Politico reports. “The IRS typically releases the data in the wake of each filing season, and this year’s rollout is more anticipated because it’s expected to provide the first detailed look at how taxpayers are taking advantage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, including its new deductions for overtime wages and tipped income... The lack of detailed numbers on the 2026 filing season comes as the agency is also under fire for withholding a periodic report on the so-called tax gap, which is the share of taxes owed but not yet paid.”
• Trump has invoked executive privilege over his conversations with Kennedy Center management. Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH) is suing the president to stop him taking the center over, and her lawyers are seeking relevant documents. In their filing, the government’s lawyer said the privilege covers “information, documents, and communications shared between the President, his advisors (government and non-government), and Kennedy Center staff, pertaining to the management and operation” of the center. It also extends to communications “to or from his advisors and/or Kennedy Center staff,” NBC News reports.
• The BBC is asking a judge to compel Trump to sit for a deposition in the defamation case he filed against them, The Hollywood Reporter reports. Trump is suing for $10 billion over a report on the January 6 insurrection. The BBC apologized for its editing and got rid of its top executives. After chasing Trump for a deposition, he finally agreed — only for his lawyers to cancel it later.
• Inflation went up to 3.7% in September, higher than economists expected, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. "Inflation is moving uncomfortably higher, further eroding Americans’ pay gains, compounding affordability concerns, and keeping the economy – and the Trump administration’s handling of it – in focus for voters in advance of the midterm elections,” CNN reports.
• After trying to blame random passersby for the failure of the Reflecting Pool renovation — and indicting one — an inspection report obtained by The Washington Post shows 🎁 that the contractors the Trump administration hired, and paid $14.7 million in taxpayer dollars under a no-bid contract, failed to properly coat the bottom in at least 85 spots.
• Despite claiming to crack down on crime, MS NOW reports that the FBI is skewing its statistics. “Patel has boasted that the FBI has arrested 54,000 violent criminals, which he describes as a 90% increase in arrests from the same period in the Biden administration. What he doesn’t mention is that his count is inflated by including arrests that state and local police forces and other federal agencies have made when an FBI employee is present. Many of those arrests are not FBI cases, the FBI acknowledges.”
• Trump asked US ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle, previously engaged to Donald Trump Jr., to resign after The Wall Street Journal 🎁 revealed she tried to get businessman Eric Deters to pay her $100,000 American Express bill in exchange for favors, including getting the IRS to drop an investigation into his business. Deters has filed a defamation suit against her, and says he has a 16-minute recording that “might just bring down the entire Trump administration.” He said he would play it last Friday. He didn’t.
• Trump is considering firing his chief of staff Susie Wiles, Politico reports. Trump called the reports fake news, but four sources say the president has been calling people to ask what they think of her — and that’s never a good sign. One possible replacement? Trump’s Racist-in-Chief Stephen Miller, who is Wiles’ deputy.
• Trump wants to rename the Atlantic or Pacific oceans. I think you can guess what he wants to call them…

Stories that seem to be resolved, at the moment, or decisions that appear final.

• Trump’s new press secretary, Katie Zacharia, was out in a matter of days, the shortest tenure anyone has had in the job. She met with Trump on a Friday and started the job on Tuesday. Her debut was widely panned, and days later Judd Legum at Popular Information found no evidence she had ever passed a bar exam despite calling herself an attorney. The Wall Street Journal confirmed she’d failed it. “The new press secretary, multiple advisers said, appeared woefully underprepared — and lacked basic skills to do the job. ‘Did anyone vet her?’ one asked. The short answer, it turned out, was no, according to multiple White House officials and advisers,” CNN reports. CNN’s Kaitlan Collins reports that Trump rushed the hire because he “wanted more people defending him on TV.”
• Trump called off Hegseth’s gross plan to livestream the execution of the Fort Hood shooter.

Have suggestions, feedback, questions? Email me at huma@fromthefifth.com