10/12/26
6:46 PM
DAVID MUIR: Meantime, back here in the U.S. And with the midterms now just weeks away, the Justice Department sending federal agents into the home of Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who is up for reelection, a longtime target of President Trump. Here’s Jay O’Brien tonight.
JAY O’BRIEN: Tonight, the extraordinary move from the Justice Department. Just 22 days before the election, federal agents searching the home of a sitting congresswoman, Minnesota’s Ilhan Omar, one of President Trump’s most frequent targets.
DONALD TRUMP: I’ve always found her to be totally crooked personally, but that has nothing to do with me. I think she’s a terrible person, but that’s really up to the DoJ.
O’BRIEN: The Justice Department traditionally avoids taking public steps in political investigations within 60 days of an election. But this morning, before dawn, federal agents arriving at the congresswoman’s D.C. home, where neighbors told us they banged on the door. Federal investigators were here since the early hours of the morning parking a long line of police cars, an evidence van pulling boxes out of the congresswoman’s home. Sources tell ABC News the investigation relates to the congresswoman’s immigration paperwork. The congresswoman came to the U.S. as a Somali refugee in 1995. She became a citizen in 2000 at age 17. Tonight, Omar defiant, calling this “political intimidation” and “an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement”, adding, “I will not be silenced.” David, in the past, President Trump has called for Omar to be investigated, jailed, even deported. And again tonight, the DoJ, breaking with its own tradition, launching that high-profile search of her home just 22 days out from Election Day. David.
MUIR: Jay O’Brien live in D.C. tonight, thanks.
Had a Republican congressman been the subject of such a raid, I’m certain it would be at or near the top of the newscast, as opposed to what ran as ABC’s top story: Selma Blair’s incident on board an LAX-to-JFK Delta flight. It took seven stories after that before getting to the raid. And even then, the story had major issues.
There was no partisan ID mentioned for Omar, no mention of that a federal judge signed the search warrant, and no hint as to why Omar might be under investigation except for a vague sentence about “immigration paperwork.” Instead, correspondent Jay O’Brien served up a heaping dose of weaponization narrative and a breathless recitation of the DoJ’s 60-day precedent as if it were a Constitutional amendment.
CBS didn’t bury the story as deeply on the Evening News, running it fourth. Overall, though, the report is not dissimilar from what ABC coughed up.
CBS EVENING NEWS
10/12/26
6:37 PM
TONY DOKOUPIL: Agents carried out a search today at the D.C. home of Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, a frequent target of President Trump’s insults. The administration says it was part of a criminal investigation but tonight Omar calls it a “campaign of political intimidation.” And says it was trying to silence her. CBS’s Nicole Sganga on what we’re learning.
NICOLE SGANGA: Federal agents were seen removing boxes of evidence from Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s Washington home around 6:00 A.M. Sources tell CBS a years- long probe into Omar involves immigration paperwork that was completed by her late father when she was a child. Omar, a U.S. citizen and the first Somali-American in Congress, called the search “an attempt to target political enemies.” President Trump told reporters he’s not involved in the investigation.
TRUMP: Well, I understand they are looking at her very carefully. I have always found her to be totally crooked personally but that has nothing to do with me.
SGANGA: Trump has regularly leveled false attacks against Omar.
TRUMP: She’s here illegally. She should get the hell out- throw her the hell out.
SGANGA: Omar has said she won’t be silenced.
ILHAN OMAR: The president’s rhetoric, the attacks from him since I’ve gotten into public office from the right wing has always been- un, really, to stop me from being in public service. To intimidate me.
SGANGA: Attorney General Todd Blanche, the president’s former personal lawyer, was aware of this morning’s search according to sources. The timing’s noteworthy. Omar’s up for reelection in 22 days. Typically, the Justice Department doesn’t pursue members of Congress or candidates within 60 days of an election.
TOM DUPREE: If they are going to do it, they need to have a pretty good reason why it had to be carried out now. We don’t know what that reason was but whatever it was, it was significant to persuade, apparently, the Attorney General himself to authorize this search.
SGANGA: Sources close to the investigation tell CBS News that the search warrant was authorized by a federal judge, but authorities have not yet disclosed exactly what agents were looking for, what specific evidence they recovered, or whether any charges are expected. Tony.
DOKOUPIL: All right, Nicole, thank you.
CBS, like ABC, omitted partisan ID for Omar and devoted significant time to the DoJ 60-day unwritten rule. Likewise, there was the vague reference to immigration. Unlike ABC, CBS noted that a federal judge authorized the warrant.
NBC’s report was significantly different from what was offered by ABC and CBS. Watch below:
NBC NIGHTLY NEWS
10/12/26
6:37 PM
TOM LLAMAS: We want to head to DC now because of the early morning search of the Washington home of Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. Part of what we’re told is a federal criminal investigation into immigration fraud. And tonight Omar is firing back. Here’s Kelly O’Donnell.
KELLY O’DONNELL: A surprise federal search at the Washington, D.C., home of Minnesota progressive Democrat congresswoman Ilhan Omar. Homeland Security agents carried out a court-approved warrant early today. President Trump reacting.
DONALD TRUMP: I understand they’re looking at it very carefully. I’ve always found it to be totally crooked personally. But that has nothing to do with me.
O’DONNELL: The Department of Justice said today’s search warrant is part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation. A source familiar with that probe tells NBC News it includes alleged immigration fraud and involves whistleblowers, documents, and witness testimony in a years-long investigation. Omar is a Somali-born Muslim who became a U.S. citizen at 17. Omar responded, “I’m okay. Make no mistake, this is an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement.” Specifics in the search warrant remain under seal.
TRUMP: How about Ilhan Omar? She comes from Somalia.
O’DONNELL: Campaigning in Tennessee Saturday, the President suggested action could be coming.
TRUMP: JD Vance and our people are looking at it very strongly.
O’DONNELL: In March, Vance made this accusation.
JD VANCE: We actually think that Ilhan Omar definitely committed immigration fraud against the United States of America.
O’DONNELL: Omar’s office said today. The Congresswoman has done nothing wrong.
LLAMAS: Kelly joins us now from the scene of that search. Kelly, do we know if Congresswoman Omar was there this morning during that investigation?
O’DONNELL: Tom, House members are back in their home districts to campaign with three weeks to go before the election. Typically, the Department of Justice does not take overt investigative action against a candidate within 60 days of an election. An official noted a judge signed this warrant. Tom.
LLAMAS: Kelly, thank you.
NBC opened with partisan ID, and with the fact that Homeland Security Investigations is who executed the raid. Correspondent Kelly O’Donnell includes in her reporting that this is a “years-long investigation,” which includes immigration fraud but also “involves whistleblowers, documents, and witness testimony.” The report posted on NBC’s website notes the investigation “deals partly with immigration and fraud, but it goes beyond those things.”
O’Donnell still made sure to include soundbites from Omar and Vice President JD Vance, and mentioned the hallowed 60-day precedent. But NBC viewers got a more balanced view overall of both the raid and what led to it than did viewers of the allegedly MAGA-aligned CBS and Trump-deranged ABC.