YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — President Donald Trump assailed Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar and Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed during a campaign rally in Ohio on Monday night, hours after federal law enforcement agents searched Omar’s residence in Washington, D.C.
Speaking to supporters at the Covelli Centre in Youngstown, Trump criticized Omar after federal personnel carried out the search earlier in the day. Two people familiar with the matter told NBC News that the Minnesota Democrat’s home had been searched by federal agents. A spokesperson for the Department of Justice stated that Homeland Security Investigations carried out a judicially authorized search warrant in connection with an ongoing federal criminal probe, though the agency did not identify Omar as the target or provide details about the case.
Addressing reporters earlier Monday afternoon, Trump claimed he had nothing to do with the law enforcement action. Hours later on stage, however, he mocked Omar and drew repeated chants of “deport” from the crowd after criticizing her background and invoking gang activity in Minnesota, NBC News reported.
Rhetoric Targets Muslim Candidates
Omar, who arrived in the United States as a child from Somalia and became a naturalized citizen decades ago, rejected the actions on social media. Writing on X, she said Trump has subjected her to baseless attacks for a decade, describing the events as an escalation of political intimidation, according to NBC News.
Trump also turned his rhetoric against El-Sayed, an Egyptian American physician running as Michigan’s Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate against Republican former Rep. Mike Rogers. Trump repeatedly labeled El-Sayed a “jihadist” and declared that foreign gangsters and sympathizers do not belong in the United States, prompting further deportation chants from the audience.
El-Sayed, who is Muslim, addressed similar rhetoric at a campaign stop in Grand Rapids last week. He argued that political opponents were using his faith and heritage as a distraction from economic hardships like high grocery bills and fuel expenses, NBC News reported. Last week, Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana also drew criticism after accusing El-Sayed of harboring sympathy for Osama bin Laden while campaigning alongside Rogers.
Community Tensions Rise in Minnesota
Trump’s comments follow escalating rhetoric surrounding Somali Americans in Minnesota, where religious leaders and civil rights groups have raised alarms about public safety. Mosques across Minnesota stepped up security protocols after Trump urged citizens online to push back against the local Somali community, MPR News reported.
Leaders from the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Minnesota held meetings with local imams to review facility emergency plans and exit procedures. Imam Abdulahi Farah of the Dar al-Farooq mosque in Bloomington warned that broad scapegoating creates real hazards for worshippers, noting that reckless statements can endanger entire congregations.
The elevated political rhetoric follows regional concerns over crime, including an Oct. 2 shooting at an Eden Prairie high school football game that wounded two teenagers, as well as the arrest of an 18-year-old accused of plotting an attack at the Mall of America, according to MPR News. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz criticized Trump’s statements in a fundraising message, accusing the president of trying to pit Americans against one another.
It remains unclear what specific evidence prompted the federal search warrant executed at Omar’s Washington residence or whether any charges will result from the ongoing investigation.
