Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., said she lives "paycheck to paycheck" during her first interview since Homeland Security Investigations agents searched her Washington, D.C., residence on Oct. 12, according to Fox News Politics. The comment came Wednesday night on MS NOW's "All In with Chris Hayes," where Omar described herself as working class.
"I mean, it's, you know, working — working class, I guess, like paycheck to paycheck still," Omar said, per Fox News. "We've got four kids, and we live, I think, like a basic life. I have a Toyota Camry that's from 2016."
The Minnesota Democrat earns $174,000 a year as a member of Congress and has faced scrutiny over financial disclosures that once listed assets tied to her husband, Tim Mynett, as being worth as much as $30 million, according to Fox News Politics and the Daily Mail. The raid on her home was part of an investigation into possible immigration-related offenses, Fox News reported.
Omar acknowledged the search was conducted civilly. "And they did a really good job in putting everything back in its place. They actually even folded some of my clothing that [was] not folded. So it was … a very bizarre [situation]," she said, per Fox News.
Since the raid, Omar has used the investigation twice to publicly fundraise. In a video posted to social media Wednesday, she said: "That goes a long way as we fight Trump and his administration for trying to intimidate me and so many people right before the midterm elections. We know that they're running scared. We're not going to be intimidated. We're not going to be silenced."
A fundraising email obtained by Fox News read: "It's Ilhan Omar — Trump's DHS agents just carried out a raid and search of my home. This is a drastic escalation of the ludicrous, partisan investigation that they launched into my immigration status."
The Department of Justice is probing Omar's financial disclosures, a separate line of inquiry from the immigration investigation, according to Fox News Politics. It is not yet known whether the two matters are connected or what specific filings the DOJ is examining.
Omar's office did not respond to a request for comment from Next News Network by publication time.
Our Take
Representative Omar wants Americans to believe she is scraping by in a 2016 Camry while her household disclosures floated figures of $30 million. The median American household brings home roughly $80,000 a year, and $174,000 is more than double that, before book deals, speaking fees and the family businesses tied to her husband. If that is paycheck to paycheck, most of the country is living on a different planet.
Notice the timing. Federal agents search her home, and within hours the congresswoman is on MS NOW playing the victim and firing off fundraising emails. That is not a defense; that is a business model. The DOJ probe into her financial disclosures is the story she does not want to discuss, because it involves paperwork she signed and assets she reported. Instead, she offers a Toyota Camry as her alibi.
Patriots should watch what the DOJ finds. If the disclosures were accurate, she can release them again and explain the $30 million entries line by line. If they were not, the voters of Minnesota's Fifth District deserve to know before they cast another ballot. Either way, the "paycheck to paycheck" routine is an insult to every working family in her district — and every American who knows what a real paycheck looks like.
