Former President Barack Obama sharply criticized the Department of Homeland Security’s raid on Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar’s home, saying “it is a basic principle of American democracy that the government can’t selectively target an individual simply because it believes that the person has committed a crime. But that’s exactly what the Trump Administration is doing to Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. Think about that. 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. This should outrage all Americans, regardless of how they feel about Congresswoman Omar’s political views.”
US Attorney General Todd Blanche pointed out that “this wasn’t done out of some spur-of-the-moment whim. A federal judge approved our warrant request for the raid based on our presentation of probable cause. As I recall, when he was President Obama his IRS spied on members of the TEA Party movement and denied them the same kind of tax-exempt status enjoyed by liberal-leaning groups. As for the government waging lawfare on an individual, no one has been harassed as much as Donald Trump. Finally, whether Rep. Omar is law-abiding is the question that our investigation seeks to answer.”
Apprised of Blanche’s remarks, the former President Obama pointed out that “the TEA Party was a dangerous anti-government movement. Their TEA acronym stood for Taxed Enough Already. This posed a threat to my pledge to transform America. There is a historic precedent for what I did. FDR had similarly used the IRS to spy on and intimidate his political opponents. Both FDR and I were pursuing progressive policies. Preventing anti-progressive opponents of these policies from undermining our policies was a defense of our democracy against the enemies of our democracy.”
“As for Trump being the most harassed person, Mr. Blanche should be asking himself why,” Obama added. “It wasn’t just the Biden Administration that was after Trump. Trump was successfully prosecuted by New York Attorney General Letitia James and successfully sued by E. Jean Carroll. It seems to me that these successes prove that Trump was guilty. Right now, there is no proof that Rep. Omar is guilty of anything. So, I say leave her alone.”
In related news, Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich) says she wants to scare people who might seek employment in the Trump Administration. “When Democrats take back the majority in Congress we’re going to give Trump Hell,” she promised. “There will be investigations, impeachments, and indictments for sure. But I also want young people coming out of school to say, ‘Should I go work for the Trump administration? Like that sounds fun. I might get an opportunity.’ I want them to be like, ‘Lord, that might be buying myself a ton of problems that I don’t want, and so let me avoid participating in that.’ I want that deterrence message.”
John Semmens
