Following the federal search of Rep. Ilhan Omar’s home this week, “The View” host Alyssa Farah Griffin is calling election interference. The ABC host admitted on Tuesday that, while there is still plenty of information left to be revealed, she was “not comfortable with it.”
Omar’s house in Washington, D.C., was searched early Monday as part of a criminal investigation by Homeland Security Investigations agents, and Fox News said the investigation stemmed from “criminal fraud investigations” into Omar’s “immigration paperwork.” The search occurred just a month ahead of this year’s midterm elections in November, in which Omar is up for reelection in Minnesota, and the timing was more than a little suspicious for Farah Griffin and her colleagues.
“There’s a lot we don’t know. Obviously, a judge had to sign off on this warrant,” she said. “That said, it’s very clear the president has wanted to target Ilhan Omar.”
Farah Griffin then pointed out that early voting in Minnesota begins on Friday, “so to do this investigation and this big, you know, pre-dawn search right before people are casting their votes feels like it’s interfering in the election. I’m not comfortable with it.”
Host Sara Haines agreed, pointing out that Omar has been in the House since 2018. So, she wondered why an investigation would suddenly be launched right before an election.
“That’s the thing that begs the question of, what was the urgency here?” Haines said. “Because they don’t seem to show for anything. And it’s just another example of the weaponization of the government. It’s important for people to note: just because you like or don’t like the target, we have to hold onto the principle that we don’t let the government go after people in weaponization.”
Host Ana Navarro didn’t think the search would affect Omar’s reelection chances, and Farah Griffin predicted that, ultimately, the investigation won’t go anywhere.
“This keeps happening where [Trump] pursues his political opponents, and it tends to fall apart in court for a number of reasons,” she said. “A) there may not be enough underlying facts to support it, or the defense ends up arguing that this is a vindictive prosecution, and the case gets thrown out, which I suspect would happen in this case.”
“The View” airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET on ABC.
