WASHINGTON − President Donald Trump said the Justice Department is investigating Rep. Ilhan Omar over the Minnesota Democrat’s personal wealth, escalating his attacks against a political rival he has said should be deported.
Trump announced the move in a Jan. 26 post on Truth Social, saying the Justice Department and Congress “are looking at ‘Congresswoman’ Illhan Omar, who left Somalia with NOTHING, and is now reportedly worth more than 44 Million Dollars. Time will tell all.” Trump misspelled the congresswoman’s first name in the post.
The president has ramped up his insults and attacks on Omar, a Somali-American, in recent weeks after revelations of a massive fraud scheme involving state and federal welfare assistance programs tied primarily to a group of Somali immigrants.
Trump has questioned how Omar, a U.S. citizens since 2000, accumulated her wealth. According to a financial disclosure filed with Congress, Omar’s net worth skyrocketed in 2025 as the lawmaker posted $6 million to $30 million in income through her spouse’s stake in a California winery and a venture capital firm.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump has mocked Omar for wearing her “little turban,” called her native Somalia “filthy, dirty, disgusting, (and) ridden with crime.” In a post Jan. 18 on Truth Social, Trump said Omar should “should be in jail, or even a worse punishment, sent back to Somalia.”
Omar responded to Trump in a post on X. “Sorry, Trump, your support is collapsing and you’re panicking. Right on cue, you’re deflecting from your failures with lies and conspiracy theories about me. Years of ‘investigations’ have found nothing. Get your goons out of Minnesota.”
House Judiciary Chair James Comer, R-Kentucky, told the New York Post in December that House Republicans on his committee intend to investigate what caused the “big spike” in Omar’s net worth.
Trump mentioned the Justice Department’s investigation as he also announced he’s sending Tom Homan, the White House’s border czar, to oversee immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota after the second fatal shooting of a U.S. citizen by federal authorities.
The shake-up came as protests and a standoff between federal and state officials intensified two days after 37-year-old Alex Pretti was shot and killed by a Border Patrol agent in Minneapolis amid Trump’s surge of immigration personnel in the state.
Reach Joey Garrison on X joeygarrison.