Omar’s lawyers challenge home search and seek seized property

Federal agents searched Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Washington, D.C.-area home on Monday under a warrant approved by a federal magistrate judge. On Friday, Omar’s attorneys challenged the search’s legality, asked the Justice Department to return property seized during it and called for recordings of the search to be preserved. The attorneys’ letter to prosecutors argues that investigators lacked a legitimate basis to question Omar’s citizenship and that the search violated her constitutional rights. The claims are allegations by her legal team and have not been independently established in the available accounts. Omar’s lawyers say she became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2000. The letter also raises objections to how the warrant was carried out. Omar’s attorneys say the House of Representatives’ Office of General Counsel was notified only after the search became public, despite special procedures set by the magistrate judge. They further allege that no Justice Department or U.S. attorney representative was present to explain protections under the Speech or Debate Clause, and that they were not given an opportunity to identify or separate potentially protected materials. A person...