Lawyer says Democrats have no evidence to defend Ilhan Omar in immigration investigation

Lawyer Julian Epstein, former chief counsel of the US House Judiciary Committee, said in an interview with Fox Business' Charlie program that Democrats have "no facts" to support the defense of Representative Ilhan Omar, from Minnesota, the target of an investigation into alleged immigration irregularities. According to him, the letter signed by 174 party parliamentarians asking for an end to the investigation was written without any evidence.

The interview takes place amid signs of erosion of party protection for the congresswoman. According to the presenter, the wall of Democratic support "is crumbling" in Congress. He cited a former Minnesota state deputy who, on the social network

What the authorities say

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin defended the investigation as non-political. In an excerpt shown on the program, he stated that the case does not target a single person, that it is a broad process presented to the Department of Justice, which leads the investigations, and that the Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) did extensive work to support it. "If someone committed a crime, we don't look at it differently," he said, adding that it doesn't matter the party or position of the person being investigated.

Epstein said he was "stunned" by the letter from the 174 Democrats. In his opinion, he would never allow the party to sign a document of this type, which he classified as "crazy". The lawyer recalled that the administrations of Barack Obama and Joe Biden had enough evidence to open investigations into the matter.

Warrant and presumption of innocence

The lawyer further highlighted that a federal magistrate judge, who he presumes was hostile to the government's case, spent six hours reviewing an affidavit and issued warrants for as many as a dozen targets. For him, this indicates the existence of probable cause of a crime.

Epstein stressed, however, that Omar has the right to the presumption of innocence and that everyone should respect it. Still, he assessed that there are negative signs for the congresswoman, who, according to him, is "in a world of pain."

The presenter noted that the first investigation was opened during the Obama administration and that the former president now defends it. He also stated that federal agents searched the congresswoman's home, seized personal records and her phone, in an attempt to find evidence from around 20 years ago. Epstein responded that the former president is being "very poorly advised."

Parallel with Alaska

Epstein drew a parallel with another episode mentioned earlier in the program, involving Alaska. For him, Democrats who denied electoral fraud in the state now see candidate Peltola, who "may have known" about an alleged illegal scheme to deceive voters. He called the case "ultimate voter fraud" and said local Democrats appear to be "holding the bag" by denying involvement.

Regarding Omar, he stated that there are suggestions of possible immigration fraud involving the congresswoman's father and marriage fraud with her brother, and that classifying the investigation as political or Islamophobic is "pure nonsense". According to him, the Democrats have no facts to support their thesis. The presenter added that, when the facts come to light, the outcome could become a scandal of major proportions.

The episode is essentially political and does not contain, in the transcription, numbers about the economy or markets. For the investor reader, the case illustrates the atmosphere of partisan dispute in Washington on the eve of the elections, a factor that usually guides the debate on the fiscal and regulatory agenda in Congress. The accusations cited come from commentators and authorities, and none of them have been proven in court.

Automatically translated from Portuguese.