Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz accused President Donald Trump on Monday of using the powers of his office against his political enemies, hours after federal agents searched the Washington home of Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, a longtime Trump critic who is on the ballot in less than three weeks. In a post on X, Walz said Americans were not fooled by the timing of the operation, which came as the president’s party fights to keep control of Congress in the November 3 midterm elections.
The post was published at 9:37 AM on October 12, 2026. In full, it read:
“Americans see this for what it is – President Trump is abusing his power to go after political opponents weeks before an election.”
Walz attached an Associated Press report on the search to the post. The report described the operation as a startling escalation in a criminal investigation of Omar, the Minnesota congresswoman who has been a frequent target of derision from the Trump administration. Walz did not elaborate beyond the post, and his office did not immediately provide additional comment.
Agents with Homeland Security Investigations carried out the predawn search under a judicially authorized warrant secured by the Justice Department, which said in a statement that the action was “part of an ongoing federal investigation.” Reuters reported that a person familiar with the probe said it relates to alleged immigration fraud, and that part of the inquiry concerns immigration paperwork filled out by Omar’s late father when she was a child. The scope of the investigation remains unclear, and no charges have been announced. Omar has long denied allegations about her family’s immigration history.
Omar, 44, called the search an attempt to “target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement.” In a statement on X, she said: “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.”
The timing is central to the criticism. Justice Department policy bars prosecutors and agents from timing any action to affect an election’s outcome or to benefit a candidate or party, and the department has historically avoided overt investigative steps against candidates within about 60 days of an election. Randall Eliason, a George Washington University law professor and former federal public corruption prosecutor, said the search appears to break with that practice, though he noted the policy cannot be enforced. “The idea is to avoid even the appearance of any kind of interference by the Department of Justice with the political process,” Eliason said.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, joined by Reps. Katherine Clark and Pete Aguilar, called the search “deeply disturbing” and said it raised serious questions about the weaponization of the federal government against Trump’s perceived adversaries. They said Trump’s “mass deportation machine has descended upon the home of a duly elected Member of Congress and her family,” and vowed to “deliver full accountability” for a “rogue abuse of power.” Rep. Nancy Mace, a Republican, offered a different view: “If the fraud is proven, she should be denaturalized and removed from this country. NO ONE is above the law.”
Trump told reporters after the search that he had “nothing to do” with it and that it is “really up to the DOJ.” Days earlier, at a rally in Tennessee, he had derided Omar’s home country and suggested that Vice President JD Vance “and our people” were investigating her. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said last month that “something’s going to happen” in the inquiry, which he suggested concerned potential fraud in her family’s immigration paperwork.
The raid is the latest chapter in a year in which Walz and Omar have been drawn into the same political fight. In late November, Trump called Somali immigrants “garbage” and said of Omar, “her friends are garbage,” remarks Walz called “unprecedented for a United States president.” Walz has also faced attacks of his own. On January 5, he announced he would not seek a third term, saying he wanted to focus on addressing fraud in the state’s welfare programs, and Trump responded by calling him “corrupt” in a Truth Social post.
Walz has repeatedly defended Omar against the president. After a man sprayed Omar with a substance at a Minneapolis town hall on January 27, Walz wrote on X: “Our state has been shattered by political violence in the last year. The cruel, inflammatory, dehumanizing rhetoric by our nation’s leaders needs to stop immediately.” Asked about the attack in an interview, he said it was “certainly” spurred by Trump’s rhetoric. The attacker was later sentenced to 14 months in prison.
The Omar attack came during the federal immigration surge in Minnesota, known as Operation Metro Surge, which brought thousands of federal agents to the state. On January 7, ICE agent Jonathan Ross fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis, and on January 24, federal agents fatally shot ICU nurse Alex Pretti. After the second shooting, Walz posted on X: “Pull the thousands of violent, untrained officers out of Minnesota.” Sen. Amy Klobuchar joined the call, writing, “Get ICE out of Minnesota NOW.”
Walz spoke with Trump by phone on January 26, and his office said the president agreed to look into reducing the number of federal agents in the state and into impartial investigations of the shootings. Border czar Tom Homan was sent to Minnesota, and on February 12 he announced the surge would end. “I have proposed, and President Trump has concurred, that this surge operation conclude,” Homan said. Walz said the administration knew it needed to withdraw but, “in very Trumpian fashion, they needed to save face.” He later backed a $10 million aid package for small businesses hurt by the surge, saying it left Minnesota with “generational trauma.”
The Omar search also fits a pattern Democrats have pointed to across Trump’s second term. The Justice Department has charged former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James and former national security adviser John Bolton, and has investigated Sen. Adam Schiff and Federal Reserve officials Jerome Powell and Lisa Cook. The case against James and one of two against Comey were thrown out by a federal judge, and Bolton pleaded guilty. The Justice Department has not publicly detailed the basis for the Omar warrant.
The political stakes are high. Omar represents a safe Democratic district in Minneapolis and won reelection in 2024 by about 50 percentage points. Nationally, Polymarket currently gives Democrats a 91% chance of winning the House in the midterms. Control of the House and Senate will be decided on November 3.
Walz has previously said Congress should look into a president’s conduct when elections are at issue. In 2019, as governor, he said an impeachment inquiry into Trump over the Ukraine allegations was warranted, saying, “There’s reasons to be deeply concerned that we have a chief executive talking to a foreign government about interfering in our elections.”
Whether the Omar investigation leads to charges remains to be seen. For now, Walz’s one-sentence post has put him on the record, three weeks before Election Day, saying the president is using his power against a political opponent.