Former President Barack Obama defended Rep. Ilhan Omar after President Donald Trump's administration opened a probe into the Minnesota Democrat and searched her home, calling those actions an “appalling” use of state power to intimidate one of the president's political opponents.
“It is a basic principle of American democracy that the government can’t selectively target individuals simply because of their political beliefs or what they say,” Obama wrote in a lengthy social media post on Oct. 18. “But that’s exactly what the Trump Administration is doing to Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.”
“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,”
Obama wrote.
The Trump administration opened the investigation that's aimed at revoking the congresswoman's citizenship and deporting her if investigators can prove that she or her relatives lied to immigration authorities when she became a citizen, USA TODAY previously reported.
Agents from Homeland Security Investigations, the investigative arm of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, on Oct. 12 searched Omar’s residence in Washington, DC, under a warrant tied to alleged immigration fraud and false statements. Some of Omar’s relatives have also been subpoenaed by the Department of Justice, USA TODAY reported.
The Trump administration’s probe has intensified the president’s longtime feud with Omar, a progressive Muslim whose religion and ethnicity Trump has frequently attacked.
Omar has called the search on her home as "just the latest in (Trump's) campaign of political intimidation."
Obama said that any efforts by any president to “intimidate someone should outrage all Americans,” adding that it could set a future precedent.
“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,” Obama wrote. “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.”
Contributing: María Luisa Paúl and Zachary Schermele, USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Obama defends Rep. Ilhan Omar, calls Trump probe 'appalling'
