A federal judge whom President Donald Trump has publicly branded a "Radical Left Lunatic" and called to be impeached is now presiding over the legal fight to unseal the FBI search warrant used in the raid on Rep. Ilhan Omar's Washington, D.C., home, Fox News Politics reported Wednesday.
Chief Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia is overseeing the matter, according to Fox News. Boasberg is an Obama appointee and has been a frequent legal adversary of Trump and his allies. The Department of Justice has declined to unseal the warrant, arguing that doing so could jeopardize the ongoing investigation, according to MPR News. More than a dozen news organizations have asked the court to release the documents, The New York Times reported.
The warrant battle stems from the early-morning raid on Omar's home on Oct. 12, carried out by Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI, Fox News reported. The search came amid two separate federal investigations into the Minnesota Democrat: one examining discrepancies between financial disclosures filed a year apart, and another probing allegations that her father committed fraud on immigration paperwork.
At the center of the immigration probe is the question of Omar's birth year. Omar immigrated to the United States from Somalia in 1995, when she was 12 years old, according to Fox News. Investigators are examining whether her father misstated her age on his citizenship paperwork in 2000, potentially allowing her to obtain citizenship through him as a minor. If she was 17 at the time, as previously thought, she would have automatically qualified along with him. If she was 18 or older, which federal officials now suspect, she would have had to file her own application.
Trump has been vocal in his attacks on Omar, calling for her to be "put in jail" in the weeks following the raid. He has also accused her of immigration fraud by allegedly marrying her brother, referring to her first husband, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi.
The former immigration judge Nathan Hansen told Fox News Digital that if Omar committed a crime related to immigration, she could face denaturalization in addition to criminal charges. "If somebody who's a naturalized citizen — which I believe Ilhan Omar is — is convicted of a crime, that doesn't automatically mean that they face denaturalization," Hansen said. "They would be handled by any type of other normal punishment that would come from the court." He added that denaturalization is a separate civil proceeding brought by the Department of Justice, and whether to pursue it would be "a discretionary matter within the people who are running the Justice Department."
Boasberg's involvement is notable given his history with Trump. In March 2025, after Boasberg temporarily blocked deportation flights carrying alleged Venezuelan gang members, Trump called him a "Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge, a troublemaker and agitator" and called for his impeachment. Trump also accused Boasberg of bias, saying it was "virtually impossible for me to get an Honest Ruling in D.C."
Meanwhile, nearly 200 House Democrats are moving to shield Omar from further investigation. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., led 175 members of the House Democratic Caucus in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Attorney General Todd Blanche, criticizing the probe as a partisan attack and accusing the administration of trying to sway Omar's re-election bid. "Congresswoman Omar is seeking reelection in Minnesota's 5th congressional district in just one week," the letter said. "News of the search warrant, whether properly predicated or not, could affect voters' decisions, which is exactly why federal law enforcement should not engage in such conduct when voters are casting their ballots." The lawmakers added, "We stand with Congresswoman Omar and condemn the weaponization of law enforcement against her."
The raid came just weeks before the midterm elections, as alleged fraud in Minnesota's social services programs has become a major political issue in the state. Omar's fellow Democrats recounted the allegations in their letter, saying the probe concerns her late father's filing of immigration paperwork after she fled Somalia's civil war at age eight.
It is not yet known when Boasberg will rule on the unsealing request. The Justice Department has not publicly detailed what the warrant contains or what investigators seized during the search.
Our Take
Here's what Americans deserve to know: a judge who Trump himself said makes it "virtually impossible" to get an honest ruling in Washington is now the gatekeeper on whether the public gets to see what the FBI was looking for in Ilhan Omar's home. That's not justice. That's a rigged deck.
The Justice Department says releasing the warrant could jeopardize the investigation. Maybe. But the American people watched the feds raid a sitting congresswoman's home two weeks before an election, and they're supposed to just take the government's word that everything is on the up and up? Patriots don't buy that. We've seen what happens when the administrative state operates in the shadows — and it's never good for We the People.
Then there's the 175 Democrats who signed a letter demanding the investigation stop because it might hurt Omar's re-election. Read that again. They're not claiming she's innocent. They're arguing the timing is inconvenient for their political fortunes. If the allegations are baseless, prove it. If they're not, no amount of election-year hand-wringing should stop the truth from coming out.
Boasberg has already shown his hand once, and Trump was right to call him out. Now he's got another chance to either let the sunlight in or bury the truth. The fact that a dozen news organizations have to beg a judge just to see a search warrant tells you everything about how the deep state operates.
Keep your eyes on this one. If the warrant stays sealed, ask yourself why. When the establishment circles the wagons around one of its own, it's usually because there's something they don't want you to see.
